Goku's Daughter (Frieza Saga)
by Gyni
Summary: Piccolo is dead, he sacrificed himself for Gohan without hesitation and now his pupils are ready to travel across the galaxy to get him back. V uses her knowledge of the galaxy to help navigate them through but Krillin isn't so ready to trust her. Meanwhile V and Gohan try to figure out their unusual bond. (This story follows the Frieza arc)
1. Chapter 1

Chichi hung the sheets on the clothes lines. It was such a pretty day, quiet, a bit windy. Something crashed interrupting the silence and Chichi swung the sheet she was hanging aside "V, how many times do I have to tell you to watch your tail-" Chichi froze when the wind blew and rolled the half broken glass around. "oh…" V felt strange without Gohan and V around. V was constantly bumping into things and knocking stuff over with her tail and Gohan was like a constant presence always studying, the shuffling of papers, the sound of pencil on paper. Chichi smiled thinking of her son and the alien girl that had found a way into their home. Honestly, leave it to Goku to pick up a random child and adopt her just like that. Chichi dropped back into the chair and sighed as annoying as Goku could be, she sure missed having her family around _even V_ a part of her mind whispered. A part that she chose to ignore.

Goku struggled to get out of his bed but they were really getting good at this. "Come on, come on!" Goku winced at the pain in his side, "stupid broken rib." He sighed and looked out the window. He didn't want them to go without him, he'd never tell them that though, especially not Chichi. They needed to know that he believed in them, but still, V had just found a home and Gohan had only been in one fight, had only studied martial arts for a year. Sure there was something inside him that drove him to protect himself when it was necessary but how much power could he have, just enough to hold someone off until help arrived? Enough to finish someone off if he had to? Goku wasn't sure if he even wanted Gohan to have to finish someone off. Gohan was so young, he was so small, even after all that training, he was still so small and V was even smaller, but at least V had experience, space was all she knew up until now.

 _Please take care of him, V._ Goku willed the message to get to her with every bit of mental strength in him. V was a fight, he could see it in every part of her from the way she carried herself to the way she slept, she was a fighter through and through. Gohan was another story, Goku needed to see Gohan in action a few more times before he decided if Gohan was really a fighter or if he only fought because he had to. Still, He couldn't be more proud of them. They fought for the planet and they were traveling across the galaxy to save their friends. Goku nodded and smiled at the sky "don't you worry guys." Goku thought "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Piccolo looked back as they came to the end of snake way, this realm was strange, he could feel everything, he even had a sense of V and Gohan, they felt very far away from Goku though. He wanted to know what was going on down there. He growled to himself as Chioatzu and Yamcha ran passed him, followed by Tien. Piccolo didn't relish the thought of spending the next eternity training with these morons. V had been a challenge at least, had more to offer, Gohan had so much power in him he didn't even know how to access it. Piccolo smiled thinking of his students. V would have been distracted by everything here, Gohan would have wandered around with a methodical way, the way he looks at everything.

"Kids so stuck in his books he just can't help himself." Piccolo smirked, he never thought he could feel such a gaping chasm in himself before now.

"I'll see you again, kid." Piccolo said clenching his fist, he smiled behind him "you too, brat." Piccolo leapt off the serpents tail and some invisible force yanked him to the ground. Piccolo leapt to his fight, preparing to fight whatever had grabbed him but all that was there was a plum blue man with antenna on his head and the others staggering about as if they could barely hold themselves up.

"Ah, a Nemekian." The blue man smiled.

"what is this." Piccolo felt the strain on his on body but not like the others, he could still move, if he took off his weights he would move even more freely.

"Don't worry about it, it's just the gravity." The blue man explained "it's ten times that of Earth's"

"Ten times!" Yamcha exclaimed "it feels like something is trying to crush me.

"You'll get used to it." The blue man laughed

 _Ten times Earth's gravity, eh_. Piccolo thought, _V said the Saiyans train in this kind of gravity, perfect, this'll make me even stronger._ Piccolo clenched his teeth and fists _but what's the point if I'll be stuck here with these pathetic beings for the rest of existence. Maybe longer._

"Hey, Goku!" the Blue man called "Goku, are you there?"

"Don't tell me Goku died again." Yamcha groaned still struggling.

"Hey, King Kai." Goku's voice filled the planet, "what's up?"

"Guess who just showed up." The blue man cast a glance at Piccolo.

"no way!" Goku exclaimed "Yamcha, Tien and Chioatzu, you guys all made it."

"You missed one." Piccolo said with a smirk.

"No way, Piccolo, you too?" Goku's laughed filled the entire planet. "this is awesome, you're one of the good guys now, Gohan and V are gonna be so excited when they find out."

"Gohan…V…" Piccolo took an involuntary step toward King Kai. "are they… are they there now?" Piccolo asked.

"No, they're out looking for the Dragon Balls, with Bulma and Krillin." Goku told him.

"But how?" Tien asked "Piccolo was killed and with him Kami, the Dragon Balls, disappeared… didn't they?"

"V has been around the galaxy, guys." Goku pointed out "she knows where there's another set."

"But… that's impossible." Tien stammered.

"Nope, they're heading to Namek now and V knows some of the locals there so she'll be able to ask them for help." Goku sounded so happy, but Piccolo couldn't help but think V was back out in space and Gohan, who had only been in one fight was with her. Neither of them were truly experienced fighters, V had spent her life getting beat up, sure she could take a hit now but could she win a fight against potentially stronger opponents than Nappa and Vegeta?

"Why didn't you go with them?" Piccolo asked Goku.

"I'm now quite finished healing yet." Goku said sadly "but Dr. Breifs is working on another spaceship and then I'll meet up with them." Goku sounded determined. Piccolo just wished he wasn't stuck here. He glanced at King Kai "you're the one that made Goku so strong, right?"

"Of course, I taught him everything he knows." King Kai said proudly.

"Good, I need you to train me as well then." Piccolo stood before him "I'm ready whevever you are."

"Sorry, Piccolo, it doesn't work that way." King Kai smiled "before you're ready to train with me, you need to pass a few tests."

"Tests?" Yamcha echoed "I can't even stand up here." Yamcha hit the ground again as if punctuating his point.

"Then don't waste your time." Piccolo said "I'll complete any task you throw at me."

"You'll be forced to reach into parts of yourself you may have never explored before." King Kai warned "it will be rigourous." King Kai smirked.

"Bring it on." _Yes_ Piccolo thought _this is what I need_.

"You must…" King Kai looked at Yamcha then Chiaotzu.

"Make me…" He turned his gaze on Tien, who clenched his fists in preparation. Finally his eyes fell on Piccolo. "…Laugh…"


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow, you really respect Piccolo, huh?" Krillin noted directing his question more toward Gohan than V as Gohan and V walked out in mini Piccolo outfits.

"yeah." Gohan smiled "about as much as my dad." V ignored Krillin right back, Piccolo would talk to her when they got him back.

"Does your mom know you packed that?" Krillin asked with a sly smile on his face.

"not… really." Gohan sighed, he wanted to tell his mom but there was no way she'd have let him and then he'd be stuck in that suit she had given him for the entire time.

"you're not gonna tell her, are you?" V asked worried, mom would be so upset if she knew V changed. The thought of making Chichi angry or even hurting Chichi's feelings made V feel bad. She just wanted Chichi to like her.

"Chill out." Krillin chuckled rubbing the back of his head and waving his hand as if he were fanning a fire "I'm not gonna say anything _great, five minutes in and I've already almost made both kids cry. Sheesh, maybe I shouldn't have any kids._

"Thanks Krillin." Gohan sighed in relief this time and beamed over at his friend. V smiled awkwardly at Krillin "thanks, Krillin." V mimicked Gohan, she wasn't all that great at Earthling customs yet. She was able to pick a lot up but 'thank you' wasn't all that common where she came from.

"sure," Krillin said trying to avoid making, some of the strongest fighters he'd ever seen, almost cry again.

"Wow." Gohan ran to the window and looked into the vastness of space. "V you've got to come see this!" Gohan exclaimed giggling, it went on forever. V joined him although it was a sight she'd seen a hundred times before.

"We've got to be the youngest space travelers ever!" Gohan laughed thinking about how his mother was doing back on Earth and if she was even the slightest bit proud of him and V for traveling into space. Who knew Gohan might even try to make his very own discovery. Gohan smiled even bigger at the thought of discovering something he could bring back and share with Earth, being the youngest space traveler and making a new discovery all before he was six, would Chichi be happy then? He looked to V and saw a strange expression on her face, she felt happy and fearful at the same time but her eyes were wide as dinner plates as she stared into the emptiness. Maybe V wasn't ready to go back into space after all. Maybe she was afraid of space, she was basically held captive all these years, forced to travel from planet to planet and watch, if not help take over, each planet along the way.

"Are you okay?" Gohan asked V quietly. V didn't answer or even acknowledge that she had heard him, she just kept staring out the window, as if she were waiting for something.

"V…" Gohan tried to get her attention again but he was afraid to speak too loudly, maybe she was in some kind of trance. If he pulled her out of it was it like waking up a sleep walker? Gohan wished he could spend more time studying PTSD, he was pretty sure V had it and he didn't have any idea how to help her.

"Come on, V, are you hungry." Gohan tried to entice her "mom packed us lots of snacks." Gohan pulled out a rice ball and offered it to V but V still wasn't fazed.

"What's wrong kid?" Bulma asked leaning over V.

"Hey, V, are you okay?" Krillin stepped in front of V but V was still staring passed him.

"V, V what's wrong?" Gohan grabbed V's arms and shook her, he didn't care if she blew up the ship if she just snapped out of this trance.

"I feel…" V finally said "…something…" V shifted her gaze from the window to Gohan "er…someone." V shook her head and the feeling faded.

"I want a snack!" V said suddenly as if she had missed everything since Gohan asked about snacks.

"Uh… sure…" Gohan picked the snacks back out of the bag and gave some to V. "Yum, I'm so hungry." V dropped right on the ground and dug into the snacks, her strange behavior completely forgotten. Gohan and the other exchanged looks but V was oblivious "come on Gohan, you've gotta try this." V shoved a random snack into his mouth "isn't mom the best cook?"

"uh… yeah." Gohan sat with her, Bulma went back to the captain's seat and Krillin just dropped back into his chair, these Saiyans were just the strangest race.


	3. Chapter 3

Space was strange, it took over everything and nothing at the same time. V supposed that was why it was called space, there was really no other name for it. Abyss wasn't right, no, that promised an end somewhere, black hole? No, that hinted at edges to contain it's endlessness. V had been around the galaxy in her short four years, she imagined even more places than she actually remembered. Although, it was a funny thought to imagine Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz carrying around a little baby with them. _I wonder who changed me?_ V mused staring into the vastness of space.

"V, it's your turn." Gohan pulled V away from the window and over Bulma's trash laying on the ground.

"Um… Gohan." Krillin stuttered nervously "are you sure you she wouldn't rather spar with you?" Krillin gulped, last time he and V sparred she had moved so fast it made him dizzy, it almost felt like he was losing energy. Krillin shivered, Goku might have been ready to fully accept that alien but he wasn't so sure she was good guy material.

"I didn't ask to spar with you anyway." V huffed, frowning and scrunching up her face.

"I didn't say anything." Krillin tried to defend himself.

"You didn't have to. I can feel it." V crossed her arms and turned her back on him.

"What do ya mean you can 'feel it'?" Krillin demanded, _what kind of powers does this girl have?_ Krillin was becoming more and more wary of this girl the more he got to know her. Chichi was holding off for a reason and Krillin was going to find that out before V had a chance to hurt him or any of his friends.

"Just go away." V threw an empty can at him. Gohan knew it wasn't the time but he wanted to laugh at how childish the act was, V acted so much older sometimes and then she did things so young.

"V, he didn't say anything." Gohan went over to her and tried to talk to her

"He doesn't have to say it, I can feel it." V felt Krillin's disapproval and mistrust like a physical weight pressing against her.

"How can you feel it?" Gohan asked immediately thinking of how he felt V differently than he felt the others. He almost felt V twice, her energy and then, it was like a sense of her.

"I don't know, it started during training with Mr. Piccolo." V shrugged "I could just feel things, but they were coming from other people and not from me."

"Can you feel things from me?" Gohan asked, V nodded and a smile broke out over her face "you most of all!" She exclaimed happily "from much farther away too."

"Seriously?" Gohan asked, he tried to think of how far his sense of V went but they hadn't strayed too far from each other since they met, he'd have to test that out sometime.

"Hey, Gohan?" Krillin asked "don't you think this is a bit weird that she hasn't said anything to anyone about this little power of hers before now?"

"No." Gohan said innocently "she doesn't know all of our powers yet and you're not giving her a whole lot of reason for her to open up to you." Gohan narrowed his eyes slightly. V felt Gohan's defenses rise…for her. She was used to being allowed to be angry, being rewarded and praised for having a temper, so to reign it in for the time that she had done so was impressive to her. But when Gohan defended her, V's anger dissipated and all she could feel was that Gohan cared about her. V threw her arms around Gohan and squeezed him. Gohan just looked at her "what'd I do?" Gohan chuckled. V just squeezed him because she could and he wouldn't get angry. Gohan couldn't understand what he felt from V with his extra sense of her but it was so alive and forceful it nearly overwhelmed Gohan.

"Just be careful." Krillin whispered to Gohan. Gohan sighed but he didn't want to argue, it would just upset V.

"Would you guys mind cleaning up around here?" Bulma yawned and stretched as she climbed out of her bed in nothing but her crop top and underwear. V couldn't imagine walking around in something like that, how in the world did she expect to fight in something like that?

"Bulma doesn't fight." Gohan told V, V couldn't figure out if she said something out loud or if Gohan could just read her that easily. It didn't matter to her either way, really, it was such a stupid thing to worry about.

"We all cleaned up our mess." Krillin tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice but Bulma sure could be one brat of a roommate "besides, Gohan and I don't drink beer and eat junk food, that's all your stuff."

V tried not to be annoyed with Krillin when he didn't mention her but she'd prove him wrong, she _was_ a good guy and she would never hurt her new family, even if some of that family was an annoying bald little grown up who was barely taller than Gohan, let alone her. V resisted even showing any kind of emotion towards it because then she let him win and V would not let him win.

"Seriously." Bulma huffed "you guys can't help out?" Bulma walked over her trash "I've got more important things to do than clean, put yourselves to use." Bulma dropped back in the captain's seat.

"But you don't even fight." V did not like someone yelling at her little brother, even if he didn't care, V wasn't going to take this sitting down.

"I'm the babysitter." Bulma reminded her a little too smugly for V's taste. V never really had a problem with her temper around Chichi or Goku or Gohan, they were her family even if Chichi was unreasonable sometimes, but Chichi was still V's mom and V loved her and you weren't supposed to yell at your mother. But Bulma was a meanie and rude and she was yelling at her brother. Krillin and Gohan felt the spike in her energy but Bulma was immune to V's sudden burst of anger.

"You don't do anything!" V shouted back. Krillin and Gohan covered their ears, they had never actually heard her speak above her timid huffy tone before.

"Excuse me?" Bulma hopped to her feet and wagged her finger in V's face "if it weren't for me you wouldn't even have this ship." Bulma reminded her.

"Oh yeah." V shot back childishly "if it weren't for my space pod you wouldn't have anything to go on since you blew the other ship up to begin with."

"You brat." Bulma screeched through clenched teeth "you can't talk to me like that!" she screamed, V's energy surged and knocked Bulma straight off her feet.

"V, no!" Gohan leapt at V and grabbed her arms "V, you have to calm down." Gohan said seriously "Bulma isn't a bad guy here."

"She yelled at you." Almost immediately V's energy dropped to its normal state, her voice returned to that timid gentle tone she had found as her own. Gohan almost felt like he had whiplash from V sometimes.

"Are you mad at me?" V exclaimed "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." V said quickly "I promise. I won't get mad again."

"It's…Okay, V." Gohan worried that V was going to worry her whole life about him or his mom or dad getting angry with her. "It's just that Bulma is a human and not a fighter at all. Our mom knows how to fight but Bulma does other stuff, smart stuff." Gohan smiled "come on we'll go and spar."

"Okay." V followed Gohan over breathing a sigh of relief. She paused and forced herself to look at Bulma. She didn't want to, she _really_ didn't want to but Gohan was so innocent and kind it made V want to be that way too and so she did what Gohan would do. "I'm sorry, Bulma." V said before allowing Gohan to lead her off to the side of the ship so it could just be him and her.

"you're doing great, V." Gohan assured her before they settled into their meditative seats and linked minds.

Linking minds with V was one of the most amazing things Gohan had ever experienced. When they first linked it was like a light went on inside both of the young Saiyans that had never been turned on before, as if a connection that had been missing their whole lives had finally been made. They could feel everything from each other, V could hear all of Gohan's thoughts and even sift through his memories as she pleased. Gohan always felt the strongest waves of emotions from V, he had never seen anyone feel the way V did. She felt passionately about whatever it was that she felt at the moment. Anger was anger in it's purest form, courage was the stuff of books and fairytales, love was undeveloped but she had connected to Gohan, Goku, Chichi, Piccolo and another face Gohan didn't recognize.

"let's get to it." V smiled at Gohan as she settled into stance. She liked sparing like this because then Gohan couldn't get hurt, even by accident.

"Let's go." Gohan smiled and settled into his own stance.

V wanted to teach Gohan everything she knew, everything from Piccolo that she learned before he was ready to begin the real training, everything she learned from not being able to fight back. V could take a hit and bounce right back up, if Gohan could learn how to roll out of anything then V wouldn't have to worry so much about him getting hit because he would be okay.

"Feel before you move." V told Gohan "if you know what your opponents going to do then you can dodge it or brace yourself for the hit." V moved faster than Gohan could have imagined and still he sensed she was holding back.

"Don't worry about what you can't do." V coached "know what you can do and use it. Every fighter has a weakness and a strength."

"What's your weakness?" Gohan asked trying to figure out how you can possibly hit something you can barely even keep up with.

"Before?" V asked and hesitated "I had no reason to fight, no one cared about me even if I could get away from Raditz and the others. At least with them I wasn't alone."

"What about now?" Gohan asked, he hated that sad look V got thinking about her past.

"now, I think I'm much faster than I am strong." V sighed "I can dodge someone but the second I have to actually finish them, I'm just not strong enough."

"How do you know?" Gohan asked "you put up such an amazing fight with Nappa and Vegeta."

"I could feel their confusion. I was fast but when I hit them as hard as I could, they wondered why I was holding back. I wasn't holding back, I'm just weak."

"You're not weak!" Gohan exclaimed in disbelief "how could you think that?"

"If you look at my speed, I'm weak by comparison." V shrugged "I know I'm not weak in general "I'm just faster than I am strong, my advantage is speed."

"Oh, I get it." Gohan nodded "but that's not bad, what good is being super strong if you can't catch someone?" Gohan smiled but V scrunched her face into her thoughtful expression and stared off into space "but what good is speed of you can't do any real damage? V shook herself and shed all sorrow as if she had changed personalities completely.

"Let's go again." V smiled at Gohan. Gohan nodded a little confused but didn't ask her "sure."

V was good at pretending; she didn't even have to think about it. She had to pretend all the time with Raditz, mostly Vegeta though. There was nothing in the universe Vegeta hated more than V's cries. V had to pretend a lot of things didn't hurt, like the time they blasted her out of a planet's atmosphere or even the time they blew up a planet while she was still on it. That one hurt a lot. The hardest times though were the times they would mock her about the family she didn't have, how they were all that she had and how grateful she should be that they took her in. V was very aware of how closely Gohan was watching her, he was even getting pretty good at using their strange link to keep tabs on her. That was why she had to pretend that she wasn't thinking about Vegeta and Raditz and Nappa. She had to pretend that being out on space like this didn't bother her and that she wasn't thinking of her warm bed at home with her new mom and her new dad and her new friends on Earth. V had never felt home sickness before, she didn't even have a name for it until she heard the word on Gohan's thoughts because he was feeling it too. V wanted to make him feel better but she didn't know how and on top of that she had to pretend that Krillin's feelings toward her didn't bother her in the least even though it was one of the things at the forefront of her mind. What did she do to him anyway? She saved him, she was the reason he was alive because if Krillin had to be the distraction there's no way he would have survived, he wasn't durable like her and Gohan were.

"V." Gohan stood in front of V. "what are you thinking about?" Gohan smiled gently, she'd never talk to him if she thought he was accusing her of something, Krillin was doing plenty of that. V glanced out the window before returning her eyes to Gohan. For just a moment V thought she might just tell him everything but a jolt knocked V off the chair and Gohan straight on top of her.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Krillin grumbled rubbing his head.

"We're being taken in!" Bulma screeched. V tried not to yell at Bulma because Gohan would yell at Bulma and if learning to bite her tongue was all V needed to learn for their mom to love V like she loved Gohan, then that is what V would do.

"Fighting?" V asked Gohan.

"Maybe." Gohan pushed himself to his feet while V pulsed her energy and lifted herself onto her feet _nothing is better than flying_ V thought as she and Gohan walked to the front of the ship with Krillin and Bulma.

"What's going on?" Gohan asked Bulma.

"Does it look like I know?" Bulma snapped at him. V opened her mouth to let Bulma know what V thought about someone yelling at her baby brother but one look from Gohan and her anger dissipated. If Gohan said he was okay, V would believe him.

"Well, we'd better find out who's in charge and explain we're good guys or make him let us go." Krillin said trying to be the tough guy. V snickered at him.

"got something to say over there, V?" Krillin challenged. V bristled at the challenge and made a move toward him but Gohan stepped in front of her "don't do it, V." Gohan matched her eyes with his own determination "prove him wrong, V." V glared at Krillin, her energy swirling impatiently but Gohan didn't budge and V's energy settled. Unclenching her fists, she sighed and dropped her head. "I'm sorry, Gohan."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Gohan smiled and took V's hand "now let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello!" Krillin called out "you guys are the ones who captured us, remember!" Krillin yelled walking forward. V thought it was funny he was trying to be the tough one. He was scared and he was bad at pretending he wasn't. V wasn't sure if she could be the leader type like her new dad but looking at Gohan, she swore to try.

"You don't know what planet they're from." V cautioned Krillin "you don't want to offend them."

"Oh yeah, miss space traveler, what do you suggest we do then?" Krillin asked a bit snidely. Krillin had had it up to here with this girl. She wasn't Goku's kid!

"Hello?" V stepped to the front of the pack, Gohan behind her and Krillin behind him and Bulma cowering behind Krillin. V would never understand earth girls like Bulma. V's mom would never act like that.

"We're friends." V offered a genuine smile, of course when Vegeta had taught her this it was always to turn their trust back and take, whoever it was unlucky enough to fall in Vegeta's path, down from the inside out. "We're travelers." No one spoke, no one came out.

"Oh yeah, that worked out great." Krillin rolled his eyes.

"At least she's doing something." Bulma snapped at him knocking him over the head with his fist.

"Not you too." Krillin groaned "she's not one of us."

"yes she is, Krillin." Gohan snapped, V felt the rise in his energy. "She's my sister and she's one of us." Gohan kept his head down and his fists clenched, he wasn't quite used to this power yet. The destructive energy he felt inside himself scared him, especially in times like this, times when his rare temper was provoked and he could feel something inside him waiting to slip. V took his hand "you'll get used to it." She smiled at him and pulled him along beside her. Krillin grumbled some unintelligible words but followed with Bulma still clinging to him.

"Do you smell that?" Gohan and V said at the same time.

"That smells so good." V mmmed and followed the scent trail down the hall.

"It almost smells as good as mom's cooking." Gohan commented.

"Yeah!" V and Gohan took off down the hall, as excited for a real meal as V was there was something nagging at the back of her mind.

"Oh, wow!" Gohan exclaimed at the sight of the buffet in the middle of the room. From V's experience this would not be the strangest greeting she had ever received but there was something else, negative energy tinged the room just the slightest bit.

"This looks so good." Bulma giggled "finally some alien who know how to treat a lady." Bulma plopped down in the chair and V heard the click of a trap.

"Gohan!" V drove and snatched Gohan out of the way although it only took V a second to realize he was already reacting. _He's learning_ V thought happily.

"Watch out!" Krillin tried to grab Bulma but the chair was the trap, as soon as the trap snapped shut Bulma whizzed out from it and dangled from the ceiling.

"Bulma!" Gohan wriggled out of V's arms and ran toward Bulma.

"Wait." V cautioned as soldiers emerged from every corner surrounding them. V didn't sense any special power levels but they could have just been hiding their power.

"Nobody move!" A young voice ordered them. V heard the insecurity in it. Vegeta taught her too much about weaknesses, maybe Krillin was right, maybe she just knew too much about being bad to be good. V shook the thoughts away despite her internal struggles, she needed to protect Gohan, she needed to make sure they got to Namek and they wished Piccolo and everyone else back to life.

"we're just travelers." V said firmly, she had to work to stay focused, there was so much extra energy in the room it was making her dizzy. Confusion fear, anger, desperation, it all mixed into one bitter taste in her mouth.

"Oh yeah." The young voice spoke "how do we know you're not lying?"

"Because we're not." V said obviously but of course that was yet another answer Vegeta had programmed her to say. One that worked surprisingly well because if only one said something with enough confidence, people believed you.

"Don't listen to her, they must be working for Frieza." Another voice whispered but V's sensitive saiyan ears picked it up without a hitch.

"Frieza…" V's blood ran cold and her heart dropped into her stomach _Frieza's near here?_ V thought in a panic. Fear was the worst emotion V had come to recognize, it was overwhelming and paralyzing. It was such a useless emotion, she couldn't understand it, she didn't want it, but it was there all the same. She pushed it aside _Gohan, you will never meet him._

The ship jolted and the soldiers screamed. It didn't take V but a second to realize what these 'soldiers' really were. Gohan felt V's realization at the same moment that he had his "They're all just kids."

The kids lifted their helmets off and glanced around with fear plastered across their faces.

"Watch out!" V saw the metal block tilt and start to fall, she dove toward it with Gohan at her side and they flew up to meet it.

"They're helping?" the very first voice said in confusion.

"Clear out." V ordered as she and Gohan lowered the thing to the ground.

"thanks." A young girl beamed up at Gohan. Gohan smiled back and patted her head, the girl was even smaller than Gohan.

"no problem, we like to help." Gohan smiled at the girl and followed V to help her secure loose things.

"Who is flying this thing?" Bulma screeched.

"The oldest one." The one that seemed to be second in command said.

"Well he's going to get us all killed." Bulma shrieked. "Let me down and I'll make sure all of us get out of this thing alive." Bulma stared the kids down. The leader met her eyes and nodded "let her go."

The other kids released Bulma from her metal claw prison and dragged her into the cockpit. "this way."

"Is everyone okay?" Krillin asked as he hovered over a group of kids that were almost squashed. The kids nodded but Krillin recognized their expressions, they were scared and they were probably wishing their moms and dads were here right now to hold them. Krillin wished he could make that happen but the only thing he could do was hold this metal thing up and help them live through this ordeal.

Bulma jerked the steering wheel left and right and spun the ship in way the captain had never seen before. He took notes as Bulma expertly guided them through the asteroid field.

"Come on girl…" Bulma yanked on the control, just clearing the last asteroid and guiding the ship into clearer travel. Bulma flopped back into her seat and breathed a sigh of relief "safe." She panted. The kids cheered for their hero in the cockpit while the others cheered for their saviors in the main room.

"Why would you help us?" The second in command demanded rushing up into Gohan's face. V stepped between them and glared at the boy "because we're the good guys." V said daring him to make a move at Gohan.

"It's okay, V." Gohan nudged V aside and offered his hand to the boy "they're just scared kids." Gohan smiled "my name is Gohan, and this is my sister V and my friends, Krillin and Bulma."

"My name is Koda." The leader reached for Gohan's hand "thank you for your help."

"No problem." Gohan shook his hand and Koda turned to V "it's nice to meet some friendly faces." He shook V's hand as well.

"It's nice to see some new faces." V smiled at Koda casting a short pointed glance at Krillin. Krillin grumbled but didn't say anything, of course he also knew she could kick his but. Krillin shivered thinking of that speed bubble thing she did.

"So where are you guys from?" Koda asked.

"Earth." V said quickly wrapping her tail around her waist.

"Wow, you guys are pretty far from home." Koda said "where are you guys heading?"

"Namek." V answered again "we're going to see a friend." V wondered if it was a bad thing that even though she wasn't technically lying she was still looking for half-truths to tell. But it wasn't because she wanted to lie. The Nemekians trusted her with their secret, she couldn't go around telling everyone. Was that the same as being bad?

"Wow that's exciting." Koda lost some of his luster "I wish we could say we were traveling for fun too." He sighed "but we're running from someone, we're the last of our people."

"Frieza is a monster." V whispered.

"You've heard of him?" Koda asked, _who in the galaxy hasn't_? V thought but from the look on Gohan and Krillin's faces they had never heard of him _I guess Earth wouldn't keep up on galactic news, considering they thought they were the only species in the universe._ From what V understood they only had made it to the moon.

"I've been traveling since I was born." V clarified "this is their first time."

"well, you guys are clearly fighters." Koda said "and you're really strong but don't go near Frieza, he's powerful and he's ruthless."

"Will do." Bulma said stepping beside Gohan "I gave your captain some pointers and if you guys want a place you can go to take a break or settle down, I put in Earth's coordinates. Just go to Capsule Corp and ask for dr. Briephs, tell him Bulma sent you."

"Wow, really?" Koda asked "you people are truly good people." Koda had tears shining in his eyes. Krillin smiled, Gohan hugged him, he felt compassion for anyone that had been through so much, but V understood those tears. Earth was her refuge too.

"We'll look for you when we get back to Earth." V said "but we've gotta get going, we're kind of on a time limit."

"I understand that, good luck on your travels." Koda hugged Gohan and then V, he hugged V just a second longer than Gohan. "you have pretty eyes." Koda whispered just to her. V looked at him strangely, he was bigger than her but she wasn't so sure he had been alive that much longer than her.

"What wrong?" Gohan asked V as he walked beside her on their way back to their ship.

"Koda said I have pretty eyes." V pucked her mouth in confusion "I don't understand what that means."

"It means you have pretty eyes." Gohan laughed "it's a compliment."

"Compliment?" V tried to wrap her mind around a compliment unrelated to her fighting. 'You hit hard' was a compliment, 'wow you're fast' was a compliment. What the heck was she supposed to do with some stupid comment about her eyes?

"I don't get it." V sighed and rubbed her head.

"You'll get it when you're older." Bulma sang with a knowing look. V frowned at her but Gohan just laughed it off "come on, V, you can ask him when we get back to Earth. Right now, we've gotta get going to Namek."

"Okay." V shook off the strange comment and turned her sights toward more important things, like saving Piccolo.

"She's been sitting like that for ages." Gohan noted finally watching V sit with her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap. A few times Gohan wondered if V was sleeping but he could feel her energy pulsing and surging around her constantly.

"What's she up to?" Krillin wondered aloud assuming V was so deep in mediation that she couldn't hear him, but he was wrong. V was deep in meditation but she was very present. She was trying to find the focus that Piccolo kept nagging at her about. She thought she was focused but thinking about it lately, maybe she wasn't. So she sat trying to focus despite the talking, despite her elevated awareness of everyone's feelings toward her. Krillin was just annoying and Gohan was concerned about her, but why, why would he be concerned about her, she was the one that needed to protect him. He was the one who didn't know how space worked, he didn't know just how many other creatures were our here or just how evil one creature could be. A creature so evil, so ruthless that he would wipe out planets just for the heck of it. A creature that knew he was the most powerful thing in the universe and exercised his freedom liberally. Everyone one knew him, feared him and bowed to him because what else could you do against a force like that? A creature so cold he would destroy a completely compliant planet just because he woke up in a bad mood or was simply bored.

"do you think she's okay?" Gohan asked as V's teeth clenched together and her energy slowly began to climb.

Frieza was the pinnacle of everything that was evil, she remember how it felt to be in his presence, she had felt cold, her life seemed to drain out of her as he walked passed her and the others while they stood in line and listened to him give them their orders but V had been so terrified she couldn't remember what was being said. She remembered how he turned and looked at her, saying something about the future and the young ones. All V remember from that moment was the blackness that overtook her and the scolding she got later for passing out in front of Frieza for no reason. Frieza... the very thougth of him made V want to run to the opposite end of the galaxy. She felt the physical reaction of fear even within herself. She was cold and her body locked down, her energy spiked in anticipation of a fight her body wouldn't be able to stand.

 _Focus!_ Piccolo's voice shattered her concentration and thoughts and she flew back into the wall. V stared at the other end panting, her energy settled but her body was still tense, her teeth hurt too.

"V, are you okay?" Gohan asked. V quickly nodded her head "yes, I'm okay." She picked herself up and walked over to a chair just staring out at space.

"V wait-" Goha reached for her but Krillin intercepted his hand "no, Gohan, I don't like her very much and you know that but she needs a minute, whatever she was thinking of terrified her and she needs a minute to gather herself."

"Are you sure, maybe she needs me?" Gohan suggested unsure, V could be so hard to read sometimes.

"yeah, Gohan, I'm sure." Krillin watched V but he wasn't thinking about how much he didn't trust her or how often she acted more like a bad guy than a good guy. When he looked at her then, he wondered what was so terrifying that this amazing fighter was paralyzed by the thought of him.

 _I have to keep them away from Frieza._ V thought determinedly, as much as she didn't like Krillin, he was dad's best friend and she would make sure he got home safely.

PICCOLO

Piccolo ground his teeth together "that girl never listens." Piccolo grunted and pushed himself to his feet, he wasn;t sure how it was possible but somehow, just for a second, Piccolo and V linked minds, he saw the images, the memory, he felt her fear.

"Worried about someone?" King Kai asked knowingly.

"Who would I be worried about?" Piccolo quipped.

"I think we both know the answer to that question." King Kai walked to Piccolo's side "they're okay, just so you know, V was afraid but it was from anticipation, they're not in any danger right now." King Kai didn't expect a real answer from Piccolo so he just turned away and started back toward the house.

"thank you." Piccolo forced out, he mind as well not burn this bridge who knew how long he'd have to be there.

"You did a good job with them, Piccolo." King Kai nodded "Goku never would have trained Gohan the way he needed to be trained. He loves him too much and V looks to fragile for Goku to give her a taste of a real fight, he would have been too gentle with her. You knew what needed to be done and you did it." King Kai smiled "even though you're still a sourpuss… the Earth is indebted to you."

Piccolo was unsure what to do with this knowledge. He was evil, he was meant to kill Goku and take over the Earth, this was all just a detour. He did what he had to to preserve the Earth for himself, but then why had he sacrificed himself for Gohan? The son of his enemy, the same fighter that Piccolo would have had to fight had he proceeded with his plan. Gohan, what an innocent, naïve, foolish child. Piccolo shook his head but couldn't help the smile "He knew nothing of Evil, he knew stories when I first took him in, he was pampered and small and believed he was weak." Piccolo looked upward "he's so innocent he poisoned me." Piccolo chuckled to himself "that kid is too good for his own good, good thing he's got V with him, she knows what real evil is." _V, what are you so afraid of_?


	5. Chapter 5

GOKU

"Very good Goku." Master Roshi sat with a magazine on his lap and his legs propped up on the bed Goku was supposed to be in. "now, on hundred sit ups."

"Right." Goku nodded and flopped onto his back. "one… two… three." Goku ignored the ach in his body with each sit up _I wonder how V and Gohan are doing_ maybe he should have been more concerned but he wasn't so much concerned as curious about their adventure. He even smiled to himself _this is Gohan's very first adventure_ Goku thought _he's off on his own just like I was when I was about that age._

"What is going on in here?" The nurse exclaimed when she walked in.

"Oh, I'm just getting some training in." Goku smiled at the nurse as he continued his sit ups.

"Stop that right now, sir." The nurse grabbed Goku's arm but she was surprised, yet again, at his strength. This man's body had been shattered and he still had strength to move, he should be writhing in agony. _Who is this guy?_ the nurse wondered.

"Please sir." She finally lifted him off the ground with Goku's and Master Roshi's help "now please, sir, stay in bed."

"But I have to train, my son and my daughter are off in space trying to make it to Namek and if I take too much longer to heal I'm not going to get there in time to help them and who knows how strong other aliens are." The nurse just stared at Goku, she wasn't sure if he had severe brain damage or if he really believed what he was saying.

"Goku." Chichi took that moment to storm into the room and take a seat beside Goku "you need to hurry up here, Gohan and V are out in space all by themselves." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Goku "do you know what I'm gonna do if they get hurt?" Chichi asked. Goku gulped "well…I…"

"If my baby comes home hurt or doesn't come home at all I will never speak to you again." Chichi grabbed Goku buy his bandages "do you understand me?" Chichi demanded.

"Miss please." The Nurse tried to stop Chichi but one sharp look from Chichi and the Nurse backed off "my baby is out in space by himself and Goku is the only one who can help him."

"Yes… ma'am…" The nurse scurried out of the room and closed the door gently behind her "what a strange family." She remembered their daughter, she had a tail like a monkey. The nurse left the couple to figure out whatever it was they were trying to figure out.

V was meditating again, Gohan was beginning to dread these meditation sessions, she always had this pain filled expression on her face and her energy always went way up. Gohan paced back and forth as he waited for V to come back to him. Gohan finally sat across from her and leaned into her face "please come back, V." Gohan begged "I don' like to see you like this." He dropped his head and just sat in front of her.

"Hey… Gohan." Krillin placed a hand on Gohan's shoulder. Gohan jolted awake, V hadn't moved an inch. Krillin gave him a sympathetic smile "she'll come back when she's finished."

"I want her back now, Krillin." Gohan whimpered, he just wanted to make her feel better. She had a family now, he was her brother, and she had a mom and dad, why did she still have to think about her past so much?

"V's been through some stuff, you've got to let her go through it." Krillin wasn't great at advice but it wasn't like there was anyone else around to give him some.

"But she doesn't have to be alone." Gohan said almost angrily "I'm right here, she's not alone."

"She's used to being alone, maybe she still feels alone." Krillin suggested.

V's mind immediately linked with Gohan at the first sign of his distress, his thoughts filtered into her mind and she slipped out of her deep meditation and found Gohan's eyes "What's wrong?" Her face morphed into concern and she reached for her brother "are you sick?" she pressed her hand to his forehead like Chichi did all the time but he didn't feel hot.

"Do you feel alone?" he asked her seriously.

"No." she smiled "I have you and mom and dad and soon we're gonna have Piccolo too."

"Right, so you know that you don't ever have to feel alone again." Gohan looked at V with hopeful eyes. "right?"

"Right." V agreed

"Good." Gohan grabbed V's hand "now let's get a snack."

"Yeah!" V hopped to her feet using her energy to lift herself up. Gohan laughed because there was just no way there was anyone in the universe that loved to fly more than V.

"Hey," Krillin chased after them "Save some for me!"

"What is with all the noise?" Bulma half shrieked half whined as she sat up and stretched.

"we're getting a snack." V said oblivious to Bulma's annoyed state.

"I want the last rice ball." V called snatching it right out from Krillin's nose "mom made it for me anyway." V stuck her tongue out at him and shoved the deliciousness into her mouth.

"can it, would ya?" Bulma snapped "I'm trying to sleep."

"Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on the controls?" V asked cocking her brow at Bulma, almost a challenge.

"It's on auto pilot." Bulma grunted trying to get comfortable again "we're on a set course, now if you would be so kind as to-"

"what's that?" V pointed to a planet that seemed to be getting closer.

"That can't possibly be Namek… can it?" Bulma ran over to the controls just as the sirens went off. "oh no!" Bulma tried to take control of the ship but it was too late.

"What's wrong, Bulma?" Gohan asked, V never rode in ships like this, it was always her space pod, but she had been there enough times when Nappa and Raditz would shoot spaceships into a planet's gravitational pull just to watch them crash.

"We're caught in the planets gravity… aren't we?" V sighed, she hoped she was wrong, she needed to get Piccolo back… and dad's other friends.

"Oh, man!" Bulma shrieked "We're going down!" Bulma strapped herself into her seat and gripped the sides "hold on everybody." V grabbed Gohan and threw him into his seat before he could even react, Krillin took the hint when he saw what V was doing and strapped himself in.

"Hurry, V." Gohan urged "you have to get strapped in too."

"I'm okay." V wrapped herself around Gohan and anchored herself with her tail.

"No, V." Gohan tried to push her away "you have to strap yourself in, I don't want you to get hurt." Gohan looked up at V glass eyed and scared for her. V simply smiled "I will always be okay if you're okay." V locked her arms and legs around the chair and braced herself. Gohan's arms slid around her and he squeezed her "then I'm not letting go either." The crash was harder than V expected, the crashes never looked that bad from where she usually watched but this one jarred V. She bit her tongue and Gohan squeezed her so hard it hurt but she held tight, she felt the metal of the seat giving way under the strength of her grasp but still she held on. Finally, the impact shook V lose and she was flung to the ceiling of the ship cracking her head against the metal then falling around and around the ship as it tumbled across whatever terrain they had fallen on.

"V!" Gohan yelled but his belt even snapped and he repeated V's injuries. Krillin tried to catch Bulma but the force of the impact sent them both into the ships solid floors.

"I don't think we shoulda taken that short cut?" Bulma quipped in a daze as the world continued to spin around her.

"what short cut?" V tried to shake her injuries off but something was wrong, V touched her head and brought her hand to the front of her face, blood dripped off and swayed until her body finally gave in and she hit the floor. V caught sight of Gohan laying on what was now the floor of the ship as the world faded out.

GOKU

 _I have to be ready_ Goku thought as he stood on his most recent battle field. He almost lost this fight, as strong as he had gotten he was not even a real match for Vegeta, had it not been for Kaoken and the help of Gohan, Krillin and V there was no way he would have won. He couldn't let that happen again. He needed to be ready for the next fight and that very well could have been in space, even with Vegeta again, he knew where to find the Dragon balls, there was no way he was going to leave the Nemekians alone and to top that off, his kids and his friends were going to that very planet for the very same thing. Goku's energy swelled, his body ached but he ignored that, he let the anger fuel his strength. He pushed his body harder even though he knew he shouldn't have done it.

"I have to get stronger!" Goku yelled, the mountains trembling under his strength and power he couldn't think how useless all his strength was on Earth while his loved ones were off on another adventure without him. H thought back to when he was young, how Bulma had first taken him to search for the dragon balls around the world and now she was taking his kids to find them in space. Goku smiled with the memories playing in his head and his imagination going a bit wild with Bulma, Krillin, Gohan and V. Some combination of need and pure stubbornness pushed Goku's energy up and up, his body straining under power it wasn't yet used to.

"I can do it" Goku ground his teeth together trying to force his broken body to handle this power. _Think of Piccolo, he died for_ your _son, you should have been there in time_ Goku's energy spiked again _Tien, Chioatzu, Yamcha, you should have saved them. You can't let that happen again._ Goku felt more, there was more there, he needed to pull out it, he needed someone to spar with, someone who could match him, push him farther, harder.

"No!" Goku's body gave out and he tumbled out of the sky and slammed into the ground. Goku squeezed his eyes shut as he panted wincing with each breath.

"darn…I…had…it…"

"GOKU!"

"Uh oh." Goku would recognize that voice anywhere "I think Chichi found out I left the hospitol." Goku sighed, now he knew how Gohan and V felt, how was he ever going to get any training done when the only person Chichi had to look after now was him. "Man, I've gotta find some way to convince that I'm okay." Goku struggled to his feet as the plane landed beside him.

"Hey, Chichi." Goku tried to hide his wince "just getting ready to go help V and Gohan." Goku was pretty sure his body had never been in a worse condition. Chichi stomped out, hands on her hips and sized Goku up.

"I'm okay." Goku tried "see." He wanted to raised his hands at least to show her that he was okay but the second he started he felt like he might collapse, so he just stayed in his space.

"All better eh?" Chichi cocked her brow at him "then why don't you and I have a go."

"Us?" Goku gulped. "we don't have to fight, you're hair looks so nice today."

"Come on, Goku." Chichi growled with the fire in her eyes that Goku had first loved "for old time's sake."

"Uh, Chichi, please." Goku fell back a step barely managing to stay on his feet now "it's not necessary, I'll go back to the hospitol with you."

"No, Goku, by all means." Chichi advanced on him "you're all better now."

 _Oh no_ Goku thought _I've done it now_

V

Something was wrong, that much was easy to tell when V first slid her eyes open and found herself laying on a bed. _Gohan_ V reached for Gohan's mind instinctively, _Gohan, are you awake?_ V knew he wasn't but she hoped that thought would wake him. V blinked her eyes trying to focus them but something was wrong with them, it was like she couldn't see straight.

"V…" Gohan groaned and titled his head toward her, he didn't even have to think about where she was, he just knew. "where are we?" he peeled one eye open at a time and found V's gaze already on him.

"Namek?" V said it more like a question.

What happened?" Bulma groaned.

"Some short cut." Krillin complained

"Wonderful." A pair of familiar green men stood at the end of V and Gohan's beds. "you're awake."

"Who are you?" Bulma whimpered. Krillin gave them a once over, green skin, pointy ears, antenna.

"you must be the local Nemekians." Krillin offered his hand "hi, I'm Krillin."

"A pleasure to meet you." The shorter Nemekian grabbed Krillin's hand.

"I don't remember you guys." V said feeling sick to her stomach when she looked at them.

"you've been to Namek before?" the taller one asked.

"Yes and I've met Nail and Guru and where's Ve-" V stopped herself, she wasn't so sure she wanted that answer.

"They're around." The shorter one said dismissively. V shook her head and looked back to Gohan, she wasn't quite so dizzy when she was looking at him.

"I want to see Guru and Nail and Dronare before we leave." V was speaking to the Nemekians but she couldn't focus on them _hmm… I don't remember that happening last time_.

"I'm sure we'll be able to find them around here somewhere. The taller one smiled kindly at V, V was sure she was going to puke from so much dizziness.

"Okay." V sighed, she just didn't have it in her to be suspicious of anyone. V groaned and turned over onto her side.

"V, what's wrong?" Gohan jumped out of his bed and set his hand on her head "You don't feel warm.

"I'm just dizzy." V groaned closing her eyes, she felt better with her eyes closed "something here is making my eyes dizzy."

"That's not unusual for someone who's just hit their head as hard as you have." The taller Nemekian said.

"Here." Gohan grabbed Krillin's hat and smooshed it onto V's head, he tilted it down so that she couldn't see. "better?" Gohan asked.

"yeah." V pushed herself up and joined Gohan on the ground, as long as she stayed locked on Gohan's energy she's be fine.

"What bring you all the way out here?" The shorter Nemekian said, V wasn't sure if they said their names or not she just wished Dronare or Nail or someone she knew would show up _Maybe not him_ V thought nervously.

Gohan was a little worried about V, she was dizzy and she was nervous _maybe she's just nervous from her dizziness_ Gohan thought but that didn't seem quite right, there was something else, it was the same feeling he got from her from time to time on the ship, the times when she got quite and stared off into space, she'd never tell him what she was thinking about though.

"We're here for the Dragon balls." Bulma announced, V couldn't imagine a worse thing to say to the Nemekians.

"We're not here to take them." V clarified trying to give Bulma a dirty look through the hat but Bulma couldn't see and she was far too self-centered to actually notice V's tone.

"Our friends were killed in a battle." V explained "people came to earth to take it and we all fought to protect it, in the battle, the Nemekian who lived on Earth, he died and the Dragon balls that were on earth disappeared." V sighed, she really missed Piccolo, she didn't want to be out on another planet to find the dragon balls, she wanted to be home, training with her new family and studying, she never thought she'd actually miss studying. V wasn't sure why the sudden wave of home sickness tinged with grief came over her but suddenly, she just felt really tired.

"We need to wish our friends back, please." V pleaded with her eyes even though they couldn't see her.

"Of course." The taller Nemekian said kindly "we'd be happy to help."

"Which Villages do we have to go to?" V asked _please not his village_ V thought but was she really going to come all the way to Namek and not see her first friend, even if he was angry at her.

"Villages?" he sounded confused

"Yes, I've been here before." V said "V-a… friends told me that each village housed a Dragon ball and to get all seven we had to prove ourselves."

"Actually." The taller Namek said "we just used them a little more than a year ago and no onea has gathered them up again just yet."

"yes, that's right, we had to wish for a new sun." The shorter Namek said

"But you've already got three of them" V twisted her mouth up tried to pull the cap off but the second she laid eyes on the Nameks she felt the dizziness hit her like a sack of bricks.

"keep that on." Gohan pushed the hat back down but V stepped forward passed his hand anyway.

"One was blown up." The shorter one said.

"Oh…" V fell back a step and sighed shaking her head "I'm sorry, I just don't feel good."

"well, why don't we get to finding those dragon balls then?" the shorter Namek said.

"yeah!" Bulma exclaimed "finally we can kick this mission into high gear."

"What are you names?" Gohan wasn't sure why he suddenly remembered the question but it was polite to ask anyway "I'm Gohan, this is my sister V and my friends Krillin and Bulma."

"A pleasure to meet you." The shorter Namek said "I am Raiti and this is my oldest friend Zaacro."

"thank so much for helping us." Gohan beamed up at the Nemekians, V was just glad Gohan was handling the formalities because she wasn't so sure she could get through them without puking.

"It's our pleasure." Zaacro said. V's stomach churned and her legs trembled, it felt like she was under the full moon.

"V…" Gohan took V's hand "come on, V, you can do it, you just have to hold on for a little bit longer and then we'll have Piccolo and all out friends back."

"right." Cold sweat trickled down V's temple but she ignored it, she could hold on, she could hold on if it meant having Piccolo back.

"I'm getting a reading over here." Bulma said as V and Gohan waded through the water.

"here." Gohan grabbed V's hand and pulled her behind him, V tried to feel her way around btu something was wrong here, she didn't remember this problem the last time she was on Namek, maybe she caught something, although she didn't even really know what sick was until she came to Earth. Something had to be wrong with her.

"I'm coming." V moaned. Gohan really wished she would let him take her back to the ship to rest, he hated to see her so sick.

"I've found it." Raiti Held up the familiar orange ball.

"Yes, we've already got our first Dragon Ball. V wanted to see to celebrate but there was no way she was going to chance looking around again. The last time she did that she nearly passed out.

"Six more to go." V gagged _what is wrong with me!_ She yelled at herself.

"You're just coming down with something." Gohan assured her "you need to rest."

"Not until we have Piccolo back." V said determinedly.

"Come on, there's another one not too far away." Bulma ran ahead, V could hear her feet against the dirt.

"Let's go." Krillin said walking beside Gohan.

"yeah…" V groaned glad she hadn't eaten anything recently "Let's go."

"if you say so." Gohan pulled V along as they followed Bulma to the next Dragon ball.

The cave was easy, V had been through much worse. Even without eyes she could tell from Bulma and Krillin's reactions that it was your typical death cave. Although V didn't remember there being such a cave on Namek before but she also hadn't had a chance to really see the whole planet before, she wasn't even sure how big it was. Besides all that, she just really didn't have the energy to be worrying about things that just didn't matter. At that moment she was listening to the others chase a dinosaur who had eaten the dragon ball _I wonder how they're carrying the Dragon Balls around, since they're so much bigger than Earth's it's not like they can just put them in their pockets._ V groaned and curled up against the rock Gohan left her next to. The cool stone felt nice against her too hot skin. "Please hurry up." V chewed on her tongue in an attempt to distract her mind from the awfulness she felt.

"Get him, Krillin!" Gohan yelled just missing the dinosaur's tail. It was weird how much this dinosaur reminded him of the one that used to chase him back on Earth.

"I'm trying!" Krillin snapped back. "He's a slippery one alright." Krillin dove for the dino's head but it leapt and disappeared into the lake.

"No!" Gohan kicked off his shoes, ready to jump in.

"No, wait!" Zaacro grabbed Gohan's ankle "it's not what you're used to."

"what are you talking about?" Gohan asked "we have to get that ball."

"Watch." Raiti threw a rock into the lake, it sizzled into nothing in seconds.

"A lake of acid!" Bulma shrieked "why would you have something so stupid on your planet?" Bulma wailed "I thought this was supposed to be a peaceful planet!"

V groaned covering her ears, _where all Earthlings this loud?_

"It is." Raiti said "we are a very peaceful people, however, nature is nature." Raiti smiled neutrally.

"Well, we have to do something." Gohan said.

"The suit!" Bulma exclaimed jumping to her feet "one of you can put on the suit and go down there and get the ball!"

"Why didn't you say so?" Krillin exclaimed with equal excitement "I can't believe you made a suit just for an acid bath, you really are a genius." Krillin congratulated her, Bulma smiled sheepishly and played with her fingers "well, it's not meant for acid but it will take longer to eat through than flesh."

"How much longer?" Krillin asked.

"A minute maybe two." Bulma hopped to her feet "but you guys are super-fast so it'll be plenty of time." Bulma reasoned "now, which one of you is the fastest?"

"Well, Bulma." Krillin gave her an annoyed look "the fastest of us is V but she's clearly not up for the task right now, so…"

"I'll do it." Gohan said.

V nearly had a heart attack "absolutely not!" V pulsed her energy hard enough to send her flying in an arc across the sky and straight to the others.

"V!" Gohan leapt up and caught her "what are you doing, you can't even walk straight let alone fly."

"You are not going into an acid bath." V forced her legs under her and grabbed Gohan's shoulders, her hat fell to the ground "mom likes us clean but I think this goes into the category of things she doesn't want you to do."

"oh yeah." Gohan puffed himself up, he could do this. "well, she wouldn't want you to do it either and I don't want you to, you're not okay."

"I'm fine." V winced "I can do this."

"If we lose you, then what am I supposed to do?" Gohan demanded.

"It'd be worse if we lost you." V said seriously. Gohan couldn't believe it, she didn't just protect him to make mom happy, she protected him because she believed his life was more than hers.

"V, you're my sister." Gohan yelled at her "and it's my turn to protect you so stop babying me, I can do this."

V froze, she was supposed to protect him. that's what big sister did, they protected their baby brothers but in that moment, that flash of anger, Gohan made her feel small. "I know you can do it." V said in a small voice. Krillin did a double take, he had seen the timid side of V but this was something else.

"I just don't want you too." V lost her balance and fell to the ground as the dizziness worsened.

"Bulma get the suit." Gohan closed his eyes "V, are you sure you can do it, even with how bad you feel?"

V sighed in relief "yes, I can do it." V nodded and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Okay." Gohan sighed "I hope you're right."

Krillin flew Bulma back to the ship for the suit, while Gohan sat beside V and put the cap back on her head.

...

I am trying to catch up so I still match up with the one chapter a week promised way back in the Saiyan Saga, so I began this saga in September I believe and so i think that leaves me one more double posting week which may or may not be this week, we'll see I try to never force my writing but i do want to catch up.

As for uploads they will usually be on Friday or Saturday nights, this is early because I'm trying to get another chapter up this week and I also had just an awful day and would love to see some comments because your guys comments just make me feel so good. SO if you have questions, if there's something you'd like to see (such as the Older V and Piccolo ship blackcat 1516 mentioned, I mean they are only four years apart or maybe they're less or more because I have yet to share V's actual age...) I would love to see it.

Also I am kind of into everything and I Crochet and knit and sew and draw (albeit horribly) I have been working on a V crocheted doll so if you'd like to see it when I'm finished (which will be very soon, like maybe the end of the night soon) I'd love to share it with you guys but only if you're interested.

Thanks so much to all my readers who have been following since Saiyan saga chapter 1 to my new readers, please let me know what you think about V and the progress she makes from good to bad, from all alone to suddenly surrounded by all these loving, for the most part friendly, people. What about Goku, how's his fathering skills with this new, not so pampered daughter?

So let me ask you a question

what is your favorite V scene so far?

And just for those who may be wondering about V's previous time on Namek because it won't actually be gone over a whole lot in the saga's there is a separate prequel type story on my page called the Nemekian Saiyan.


	6. Chapter 6

V groaned as she heard people moving around her, "Gohan?" V pushed herself up "I'm okay, I'm ready." V forced her legs under her.

"Sorry, V, but you'll get hurt." Gohan said. V heard a splash.

"Gohan, no!" V screeched leaping after him.

"V, don't!" Krillin caught V's tail, V hit the ground. It didn't hurt but she was already weak.

"Why'd you let him go?" V whimpered, she was too weak to be any help at all, she knew when she was beat, that was the worst for her, knowing she didn't have a chance.

"He's the best chance we have." Krillin said "if you want Piccolo back then you've gotta let Gohan do this, you're sick and frankly Gohan might be stronger than me at this point."

"He's just a kid." V whined, she promised their mom one thing, that she'd bring Gohan home safe.

"So are you." Krillin muttered.

 _I'm okay_

Gohan swam as fast as the suit would allow him. He felt the essence of V rather than her energy like he did with the others. It was like she was right there next to him, only she was upset. Gohan did feel bad about tricking V but there was no way she was going to let him do this. She felt bigger than she was, she seemed older than she was, but in the end V was Gohan's sister and he wanted to protect her just as much as she wanted to protect him.

 _I'm okay_ Gohan hoped the thought made it to V but there wasn't anything he could do about her right now, he needed to get the dragon ball and then she could be mad at him as much as she wanted.

 _There it is_! Gohan pulsed his energy to send him to the bottom of the lake with the dinosaur's skeleton. The dragon ball was completely unharmed among the bones _yes_ Gohan cheered _Alright, one more down._ Gohan felt something strange then, he glanced down at his arm, the acid was beginning to eat through the suit _Oh no!_ Gohan held the ball in one hand and powered up a Mesenko in the other. He fired at the ground and the blast sent him piercing through the water.

Gohan burst through the water just as the rest of the seat disintegrated.

"Gohan!" V called out pushing her wobbly knees under her, she stumbled toward Gohan "you lied to me." V yelled at him "you could have gotten hurt, or killed or-or" Gohan's face was the only thing V could bring into focus as she calmed herself down "and Piccolo will be proud when he hears about it." V sighed and let herself fall to her knees but Gohan didn't. Gohan reached out and caught V "thanks, V." Gohan smiled and pushed the hat back down over V's eyes.

"Did you get it?" Bulma asked hopefully.

"Yeah-huh." Gohan held the beautiful orange orb up to the sky and flashed a smile.

V just really wanted to puke and get it over with. Why couldn't she just throw up whatever was upsetting her stomach and making her feel so weak and be done with it, she wasn't so sure she could handle sitting on the sidelines much longer[GM1]

"Would you do something, Krillin!" V yelled at Krillin as Gohan leapt into a tornado to find the next dragon ball. "I know you don't like Piccolo but the other ones are your friends too." V grabbed Krillin by the shirt and yanked him down to her level "don't you care about them?"

"Look here." Krillin smacked her hand away, V stumbled and fell flat on her butt, she narrowed her eyes up at Krillin but had to squeeze them shut when the dizziness became too much.

"I've known Gohan's dad when I was younger than you, I've been friends with the others before you were even born." Krillin snapped "Gohan is more my family than yours and I care about him more than you can fathom." Krillin knew it was wrong to yell at a little girl but V wasn't just any little girl, she was an alien trying to insert herself into a family she doesn't belong in.

"Shut up!" V screamed slamming her fist into Krillin's gut. V closed her eyes and followed her link to Gohan. She felt the winds pick up around her as she neared the tornado.

"Gohan!" V called out.

"Get out of here, V." Gohan yelled at her "you can barely stand." _Why can't she just leave this to me?_ Gohan didn't want to be irritated with V but she was sick.

"This is dangerous." V said to him, _Focus_ Piccolo's voice was like an alarm on repeat. He was always butting into her head when she was in the middle of something. _Focus_

"Fine!" V stopped trying to feel Gohan out, she stopped being angry over her inability to help. She listened and she felt the atmosphere around her, the dizziness subsided, she peeled her eyes open and found a desolate planet, strange energies swirled all around her.

"V!" Raiti called to her, she felt something strange pressing against her mind, the dizziness ebbed in and Gohan's voice broke her concentration. V felt as if a door had been slammed on her mind, she screamed and fell toward the ground.

"V!" Gohan snatched her out of the sky, V hung over Gohan's arm, pain throbbing in her head as Gohan held the dragon ball in his other hand,

"I said I'd do it, V." Gohan said gently, concerned for his sister.

"I know but…" V shook her head "something is wrong, I'm not sick, it's something else." V held her head in her hand and squeezed her eyes shut, more from the pain this time.

"Careful, Gohan" Krillin warned holding his stomach "she can't control her temper very well."

"What's wrong?" Gohan asked Krillin.

"She punched me, that's what." Krillin grumbled glaring at V, V didn't have to see to be able to know what was written all over Krillin's face. It was weaker than what she was used to feeling but it was still there. Krillin hated V.

"She's dangerous and we never should have brought her." Krillin declared.

"No, I just- there's-" V growled in frustration "something is wrong." V finished weakly _I wish Piccolo was here_ V found herself wishing that more than anything else.

"Why'd you hit him?" Gohan asked, V didn't detect the slightest bit of blame or anger from him, just a genuine neutral question.

"He said I wasn't your family." V whimpered. _Caring really is more trouble_ V thought thinking back to Vegeta's words, one of the few things he tried to teach her. _Maybe I should have just stayed with him, especially after he saw how strong I got_.

"V, you know that's not true." Gohan smiled knowing she could feel it. "You're every bit as part of the family as Piccolo and Yamcha and even Krillin and Bulma and they've been with my dad forever."

"Gohan, I really think you should give this more time before you go around making promises." Krillin warned. Gohan just shook his head "no, I shouldn't." Gohan looked down at V as she lay limply draped over his arm "I know V's meant to be my sister, I felt it the second we met."

"What do you mean by that?" Bulma asked, these Saiyans sure were a strange race.

"I don't know, there's just the feeling I've had since I met her, only, it gets stronger and stronger the more time we're together." Gohan smiled "I felt it before I could even feel energies and now that I can feel that it's like I'm feeling V twice, her energy and then her. I can feel how she feels and sometimes it's almost like I can hear her words but they're not words, it's a really strong feeling of her mind." Gohan titled his head and puckered his face, _man, explaining this is harder than I thought it'd be_.

"How do you know she hasn't done something to make you feel this stuff?" Krillin demanded.

"You can't understand it unless you've felt such strong connection to someone, someone you were just meant to meet." Gohan nodded "almost like it was destined." Gohan being the intellect that he was didn't believe a lot in destiny, he believed in good over evil, the magic of the dragon balls and good and evil alien races but he believed that you paved your own path. Except with V, some force pulled them together.

"Do what you want, kid." Krillin sighed "I just can't trust her."

"I trust her." Gohan said firmly "I don't think she could lie to me even if she wanted to anyway."

"I sure hope you're right." Krillin groaned and rubbed his stomach _man that girl hits more like a full grown martial arts champion._

"Look, we can argue about this all day or we can find the dragon balls and get home with our friends." Bulma finally interjected realizing she had promised to look after both V and Gohan on this trip and as the adult she should probably be keeping V and Krillin from getting into another spat.

"Fine." Krillin said glaring at V _I know there's something wrong with you and I'm going to find out what._

V sat in the grass _Gohan can do this_ V chanted to herself as she tried to shut everything out again. There was something going on here and V was determined to find out, but she needed to focus and she couldn't do that when she was worrying about Gohan for no reason, he was a saiyan too, just because she knew more about fighting didn't mean Gohan was helpless, she fought with him, she watched him fight and he had a warrior's spirit.

 _Focus!_ Piccolo's voice was like a shout in her head, instead of arguing with it, as V had become used to doing, V tuned even that out and closed her eyes. Again, the dizziness subsided, this time V ignored the namekian's' shouting and Gohan and Krillin's struggle with the giant, Gohan wasn't in any real danger, he just didn't want to hurt anyone, he wanted to do things gently, if he could. V closed them out. It felt lonely, she couldn't hear Gohan or even feel him. it was like she severed the link they shared _but I don't want that to go away._

 _V, Focus, you have to focus to maintain this kind of mediation_.

 _Piccolo?_ Looked around but she couldn't see him in the endless space that surrounded her. _I don't want to be here; I don't want to be alone again_.

 _V, listen please._

 _I can't see you, Piccolo_

 _I don't know how but we've intercepted each other's meditations_

 _I really need to go, Gohan might be in trouble_ V felt the connection with Piccolo weaken as she pulled away

 _No, wait, King Kai has been keeping an eye on you, the planet you're on, it's not right_

 _What do you mean right?_ V asked.

 _I mean-_

"V, help!" Gohan's voice shattered V's concentration and yanked her back to her body, V glanced around in a daze and found the same image she had seen before "what- what's this?" V got to her feet and took a few steps "is this even the same place?" V wondered, it couldn't be, this planet was dead or dying, it wasn't the Namek she knew.

"V!" Gohan's voice rang out thrpugh the desolate landscape and V lost all her thoughts, she blasted off following their rekindled link.

PICCOLO

 _V wait, no, the planet you're on isn't Namek!_ Piccolo's body was thrown back with the force of V's departure.

"No, I didn't get a chance to tell her." Piccolo slammed his fist into the ground "I hope you haven't lost that saiyan instinct yet, you're going to need it if you're going to get out of this one."

"Interesting isn't she?" King Kai asked Piccolo seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"She has a strong telepathic presence." Piccolo nodded, Sayains didn't have that, neither Goku nor Vegeta presented any kind of telepathic ability last he checked.

"No, it's not a saiyan ability." King Kai agreed reading Piccolo's mind, he had gotten so used to V doing it that it didn't even phase him. Piccolo pushed himself to his feet and met King Kai's eyes "you have to let me talk to them, Gohan and V, I have to warn them."

"I'm sorry, Piccolo, I can't just open up a line, it's against the rules."

"Screw the rules!" Piccolo growled "I need to warn them."

"Don't worry so much, someone might think you really care for someone other than yourself." King Kai gave Piccolo a bit of a snide look.

"That's- you- I'm-" Piccolo stuttered over the right words, he couldn't lie to someone who could read his mind.

"Let me ask you something, Piccolo." King Kai said "who do you think V and Gohan will side with when you get back to Earth in time to take it over?" King Kai cocked his head at Piccolo "you, their mentor or Goku, their father?"

"I…" Piccolo hadn't honestly thought of taking over the world once since he got there. After everything he, Gohan and V had been through it felt like they were their own entity but of course they weren't, Gohan was Goku's son and Goku had taken V in. Where did he fit in in all of this then? Piccolo wasn't so sure he knew, not right now, not thinking about being evil again when he had put so much effort into saving that ungrateful planet. Not after all the time he spent training that pampered kid and listening to V chatter at him endlessly day and night.

"Shut up, old man." Piccolo spat "what would you know about me?"

"A lot more than you know about yourself, Piccolo." King Kai snorted "come and spar with the others, I think you'll find them more of a challenge than last time." It was a challenge, Piccolo knew it was and he couldn't turn down a challenge, not against Goku's weakling friends. _Funny, I almost forgot that hate them._

Piccolo followed after King Kai. It couldn't hurt to get a little training in, they had to have made some kind of improvement.

V

"Gohan!" V called as she flew over the desolate plains, the dizziness was completely gone. "Gohan!" V could almost grab the line connecting them.

 _Where is, V_

V caught the stray thought and pulsed her energy "I'm coming!" V called and sent the thought out as well.

"Great, the one time we need V butting in." Krillin groaned wrestling with the tentacles.

"Maybe she's hurt." Gohan tried to find V's energy but it had disappeared _where are you, V?_ Gohan thought worriedly but he couldn't think of that right now, he had to get out of this mess first. Gohan looked on at the red long limbed aliens standing on land, safely out of the sea creatures reach.

"Well, since you guys are a little tied up at the moment, we'll go ahead and use your ship to get off this retched planet." Raiti smiled as if he were doing them a favor "but tell you what, if you get away from these guys in time, we can all catch the Steller Winds and leave together." Raiti laughed.

"How did you even know what the Dragon balls or the Nemekians looked like?" Gohan grunted wrestling with the tentacles.

"We read your minds while you were passed out." Zaacro said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "although that little girl's mind was impossible to read."

"V?" Gohan asked

"yes, that little brat, she couldn't see straight because she could see through the lie, every time she opened her eyes we had to re-imprint the images of the landscape onto her mind, it was exhausting!" Zaacro exclaimed

"You'd better not have hurt her!" Gohan yelled at them.

"we didn't touch her." Raiti rolled his eyes.

"We left her just where she was, she was in some deep meditation, I don't know what for but it kept me from having to waste valuable energy." Zaacro huffed.

"Sorry to be such a burden." V slammed into the ground before the two aliens, eyes blazing. V's hair stood on end, her energy swirled "you tried to kill my brother." V said, V radiated dark energy, Gohan watched almost afraid as V advanced on the aliens "that is the mistake that's going to cost you your life." Light filled V's hands, her energy rising.

"V-" Gohan's scream was cut short when both he and Gohan were dragged under water. V cast one glance at the two aliens "I will finish this the next time we meet." V swore just before diving into the water after Gohan and Krillin.

"Hurry." Raiti took the lead back to the ship "that one is different."

"Dangerous." Zaacro agreed "I wonder how something like that wound up with a set of goody goodies."

"it doesn't matter anymore, they're all going to die on this planet while we make a safe getaway." Raiti laughed as the ship came into sight.

Gohan sank down struggling. _Focus, Gohan_ V chose to ignore the irony in herself telling someone else to focus. _You're strong enough to beat this thing, focus_ V dove down deep after them dodging more tentacles as they reached out to grab her. V powered up and energy blast and aimed for the tentacles around Krillin who was already blue in the face, Earthlings, they were so fragile. Krillin broke free and struggled to fight his way over to Gohan but Gohan pulsed his energy like he had seen V do a hundred time to get something away from her, the tentacles retracted away from Gohan but only for a moment. V and Gohan brought the hands to their heads, bubbles escaping from their mouths as they yelled "Masenko!" Krillin joined in with a Kamehameha wave. The threesome floated side by side, more tentacles gathering around them and screamed "haaaaaaaaaaaaa!" They flew toward the surface taking every sea creature out as they made their departure from the underwater world.

"Hurry." V felt the planet losing it's stability, it was going out down. "Where's Bulma?" V asked as the three flew side by side toward the ship.

"She's back at the ship already." Gohan said "she's trying to stall them."

"The only person who can fly that thing is with the bad guys?" V asked "the one who can't fight and can't protect herself."

"…yes…" Krillin answered before Gohan could. "yes, we sent Bulma back to try and do what she could to stall them." Krillin narrowed his eyes at V, she seemed different.

"Meet me there." V said kicking up the speed to her max. V blasted off ahead of the others, she could stall them, even if they had to stop to mess with her head again, she could at least stall them better than Bulma can.

"V. wait!" Gohan called after his sister, very quickly Gohan was learning what lengths V was willing to go to to win her fights. He wasn't so sure what had happened back there with the aliens, she didn't seem like V then, she seemed like… a bad guy…

"We have to hurry." Gohan said to Krillin "V's going to get angry with them again."  
"So what." Krillin said "they deserve that girl's wrath."

"Krillin, you had to of seen the way she was acting before." Gohan said frustratedly "that wasn't her."

"Or maybe it was her and she's finally letting her true colors show." Krillin countered. Gohan hit the brakes directly in front of Krillin forcing him to stop.

"No." Gohan said "she's not bad. She saved you before she saved me." Gohan reminded him "she's just never had family before and she's afraid she's going to lose it now that she does." Gohan narrowed his eyes at Krillin "she's a scared little girl, Krillin, just like I was a scared little boy when the Saiyans came."

"It's not the same, Gohan." Krillin tried to reason with him "and we don't have time to do this now."

"It's the same and you need to give her a chance, a real chance." Gohan said.

"We don't have time for this, Gohan." Krillin tried to avoid the whole thing but Gohan was getting to be as stubborn as his father.

"Fine." Krillin gave in "I'll give her a chance, but that doesn't mean I trust her." Krillin slipped passed Gohan and rushed after V toward the ship. Gohan had gotten what he wanted, now was the time to get back to the ship and get off this fake planet.

V breezed inside the ship almost silently, the only sign of her arrival was the gust of air and energy now surging through the room. "Going somewhere." V asked.

"Why'd that one have to get here first?" Raiti groaned.

"She's different than the other but she's got the biggest weakness." Zaacro reminded him, grabbing V's mind, V felt the dizziness come over her immediately.

"Not again." V slammed up the few mental defenses she had actually learned from Piccolo, when she listened. V fought off the dizziness but it was a constant pressure against her mental abilities.

"That's not going to stop me." V took a few steps forward and fell to her knees as they broke through her mental defenses.

"you simple Kyu Shim." Raiti laughed.

"What did you call me?" V snapped

"She doesn't even know what she is." Zaacro laughed seeing the confused expression on her face.

"What are you talking about?" V felt them lose their grip on her mind and she leapt at them grabbing Zaacro by one of the spikes on his head and throwing him into Raiti. "What did you call me?" V demanded.

"Nothing you're going to live long enough to care about?" Raiti grabbed V's tail and threw her into the wall.

"Get away from her." Gohan yelled as he and Krillin burst into the ship, Gohan and Krillin grabbed each alien and threw them off the ship with ease.

"Where's Bulma?" Krillin asked.

"Over here." V flipped herself over and pulled Bulma out of the pile of clothes and bags.

"Let's get out of here!" Bulma shrieked "Piccolo!" she screamed, the door closed.

"wait." V scrambled toward the closing door but Gohan grabbed her first "No, V, we have to leave."

"But they called me something." V said "I-"

"We don't have time for that." Krillin shouted at her.

"Don't worry about that." Gohan said a bit more gently "we've got to get out of here and get to the real Namek, for Piccolo remember?"

"Yeah…" V watched the planet disappeared behind them as Bulma flew the ship back on course. _But I want to know what that means._ V thought, the endlessness of space closed around them again.

PICCOLO

 _There is no way they've made so much progress in such a short time_ Piccolo thought, that last hit from Tien actually rattled him. Piccolo smirked, of course, King Kai was holding out on him, why wouldn't he? He just didn't like Piccolo's attitude. Piccolo lifted his weighted cape and turban off and threw it to the ground "alright then." Piccolo said looking at the others "no more kid stuff."

"No, that's enough for today." King Kai said tilting his head just so that his glasses reflected the light. Piccolo narrowed his eyes at the Kai.

"Sure, wouldn't want to bring them down, would we." Piccolo grabbed his cape and turban and started to walk away.

"The foods inside." King Kai said "why don't you boys go grab a bite." King Kai suggested. Tien, Yamcha and Chioatzu didn't need to be told twice, they bolted for the house.

"Piccolo." King Kai said, Piccolo hesitated "They're okay, they made it off the planet."

"Why should I care?" Piccolo asked "I knew they would, I trained them." Piccolo said a bit arrogantly.

"yes, and you did well." King Kai had a serious expression on his face that Piccolo rarely saw "but there's something about V that you should know." Piccolo turned just the slightest bit, he wouldn't want to give the Kai the wrong idea. "What could possibly interest me about that girl, we fought together for a mutual cause. That's all."

"Piccolo, you can tell yourself what you want but if those kids didn't interest you wouldn't spend so much time trying to watch over them, even from the otherworld." King Kai called his lie, this game was getting old. "V's ancestry could be very dangerous to everyone if she doesn't learn to control it."

"What are you talking about?" Piccolo growled "we already knew what V was, she's got the tail to prove it."

"You must have wondered why she doesn't transform under the full moon?" King Kai challenged.

"I'm listening, old man." Piccolo said.


	7. Chapter 7

**So sorry about the super late update but I had a little trouble figuring out how I wanted to introduce a certain someone...**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and please remember to leave comments because they never annoy me, they only inspire me.**

 **...**

GOKU

"Ow, Chichi." Goku wined limping into the ship "did you have to hit me so hard?"

"You said you were all better." Chichi huffed taking a seat at the controls and closed the door.

"I have to get better faster." Goku grunted settling back into his seat beside Chichi.

"well you can't." Chichi snapped "you have to follow the doctor's orders like everybody else."

"But I have to be ready to help Gohan and V." Goku wrapped his arm around his ribs. "our kids are out in space and I'm laying in bed all day doing nothing." Goku slammed his fist into the arm of the chair.

"Don't you think I feel the same way." Chichi snapped "my little boy is out in space and there's nothing I can do to even help him because now, after he was kidnapped by your enemy, he's stronger than me and if someone is stronger than him there's nothing I can do." Chichi clenched the wheel, tears shimmering in her eyes "and now there's this alien girl that's supposed to be my daughter and I don't know how to feel about her even though my idiot of a husband brought her home as if she were some stray animal." Chichi glared at the wheel, not moving. "and now my son loves two aliens and has grown up without me." A tear trailed down Chichi's cheek "what am I supposed to do with that, Goku?" Chichi demanded finally looking at Goku.

"I'm sorry, Chichi." Goku sighed and reached for Chichi "I had no idea that's how you felt." A determined look crossed Goku's face, Chichi recognized it from every time in the past when he was ready to face someone.

"but that's why I have to get strong, I need to be strong enough to save our kids and our planet." Goku met Chichi's eyes. "okay?"  
Chichi looked at Goku, he wasn't telling her, he was asking her permission. Chichi sighed "I just didn't think I was going to have to share you with the universe and the world is all." Chichi offered a soft smile at Goku, ignoring the pain, Goku forced himself to his feet and wrapped his aching arms around Chichi "only because I want it to be safe for you." He said kissing her head. He didn't always get affection, not the kind that Chichi liked but he knew it made her happy, so he hugged her and he kissed the top of her head and they sat there like that, allowing happiness to settle around them for just this moment.

V

 _What did he mean?_ V wondered for what must have been the millionth time in the last hour.

"V, what's the matter with you?" Gohan asked "you keep going away." Gohan felt a little hurt with the way V seemed to just forget about him since they got off that planet. _Is she already bored of me?_ Gohan wondered _doesn't she want to train with me anymore, I'm getting stronger_

"No!" V exclaimed "Never, I love you, Gohan, you're the best baby brother in the universe!" V hated to feel Gohan like that, he always felt worried, like he wasn't good enough or something. "I just…" V shook herself "Nothing, I just… haven't been to Namek in a while." V looked at the ground, she hadn't been thinking about that but now that she said it, that was on her mind too "I was just wondering if someone I met before will still be there" _and if he'll even want to see me_ V rubber her head with her tail _worrying is so annoying_ V thought frustrated.

"What were you saying?" Gohan prompted V. V gave herself a shake and tried to pretend Piccolo was there nagging at her to focus on what they were doing.

"Use your whole body." V said trying to demonstrate "Every piece of you is a weapon, your fingertips, to your head, to your toes." V got into stance, her tail swayed back and forth "Attack me as fast as you can." V ordered. Gohan learned by this point to just do it, she was too fast for him to really hit anyway.

V knew Gohan's movements to a T now, it was almost like breathing with her and Gohan, she didn't need to think to be around him, she could read him more easily than those books Chichi was always giving her to read. He moved, she felt it. She was almost sure she knew what he was going to do before he did.

"When you miss you should have two more hits ready." V chastised, "watch." V slowed it down so Gohan could see it clearly. Missing his head on purpose she pulsed her energy and redirected her hit into her leg as it came around. Gohan flinched but V never hit him.

"Hit one." V smiled "if I had missed that…" V missed again and swept her other leg under it, she caught Gohan's legs easily and knocked him onto his butt.

"How do you do that?" Gohan asked. V picked Gohan up "Piccolo was teaching me to fight the whole time you were learning to survive." V explained "and I've been around fighting my whole life, I wasn't good at it before, but I still learned a lot just watching." V fell back into stance "now I'll teach you."

"Does it bother you?" Gohan asked getting into his own stance.

"What?" V struck out a few times at him, Gohan dodged and struck out at her.

"that you had to live like that?" Gohan clarified "that you didn't have any parents before"?

"Not really." V said, she hadn't thought about it before but now that she Gohan had asked, she didn't like the rules she once had to live by, she didn't like the people.

"How come?" Gohan asked,

"I didn't know anything else." V said figuring the words to express herself as she went, no one ever asked before, having to explain this to someone else was new. "and if I wasn't with Raditz then I never would have met you and dad and Piccolo." V smiled "I think I'm happy now, I think it was meant to happen." V couldn't think of another way to explain this feeling she had with Gohan, meeting him was like finding half of herself. Finding Dad was like being accepted for the first time and finding Piccolo was like having a real friend for the first time.

"You're different." Gohan said suddenly "you could have been like Vegeta but you aren't, you're more like one of us." Gohan eyed V as if considering something "I think you're right." He said finally, I think you are supposed to be here with us." Gohan launched a combo V seemed to be quite fond of and land three of the five hits.

"Nice one." V wiped her hand across her mouth "now do it faster." V said somewhat playfully. She was so used to her life being on the line that she forgot that Gohan wasn't used to it, he was just an earthling kid who happen to have saiyan blood. He needed to understand the cost of being a warrior, but he sure had the heart of one. V landed a solid hit to his gut, Gohan whirled and nailed her in the face _that's my baby brother_ she thought proudly.

PICCOLO

 _Man, these guys are actually becoming a threat_ Piccolo thought, though he'd never let anyone know. Accept, V would know, she could read his mind almost as well as he could read her's and Gohan's. Piccolo barely dodged Tien's last hit. _Come on, focus_ he snapped at himself feeling more like he was yelling at V. _Gohan and V are completely capable of taking on those freaks_ Piccolo assured himself _V knows what a bad guy looks like and together the two of them could take care of them, even if they didn't have Goku's bald friend there, they would be fine on their own_ Piccolo's arm stretched out and snatched Chioatzu from the sky and threw him into Yamcha. Yamcha stumbled over Chioatzu and thumped head first into the ground.

"Chioatzu!" Tien yelled "you'll pay for that one." Tien flew into the air, Piccolo already knew what he was going to do. Tien was going to use the same move he always used for moments like these. Framing Piccolo with his hands, Tien summoned every ounce of strength within him. Piccolo smirked, he was hoping Tien would do this. This was beginning to be nothing more than target practice. Piccolo gathered his energy as Tien hovered above doing the same.

"watch and learn." Piccolo taunted "I only need one hand to beat you."

"Tri-Beam!" Tien shouted, the energy gathered filling up his hands. Piccolo crouched, brought his fingers to his head and laughed "Speacial Beam cannon!" the beam shot through Tien's Tri-beam and knocked him straight out of the sky.

"Tien, no!" Yamcha and Chioatzu yelled at the sight of the falling friend. Yamcha and Chioatzu ran to Tien. Piccolo smirked "come get me when you're ready to play with the adults." Piccolo swished his cape and walked away, it was a good thing he was training with his weighted clothing, it would make his training that much more effective. _V was sick before, something was wrong with her._ Piccolo didn't try hard, he knew that nosy Kai was rooting around in their minds whenever he pleased, but he did try to reach out for V. Piccolo had a sense of her but no real connection, just the simple existence of her somewhere in the cosmos.

"Funny, how her kind bond, isn't it?" King Kai appeared from nowhere. Piccolo growled under his breath _how does he sneak up on me like that?_

"easy, you're preoccupied thinking of your enemy's kids and wondering if they're okay." King Kai snorted a laugh "no but seriously, stop worrying, they're fine."

"Why would I care?" Piccolo was beginning to think being good was contagious, He hadn't thought about taking over the worlds once since he'd gotten there. He hadn't even given a whole lot of thought to King Kai's question, would he take over the world if it meant hurting the only people who had ever liked him? Piccolo looked at his hands _Could I even bring myself to kill them?_ Piccolo sighed _of course I can_ Piccolo assured himself _if they're not with me, they're against me and they'll be dealt with like everyone else._

"Oh yeah." King Kai snorted "maybe if you say it to yourself enough you'll really start to think it." King Kai laughed, Piccolo growled and glared at King Kai with disdain.

"there's nothing wrong with your new role, Piccolo." King Kai said finally serious, "I think you'll find this side much less lonely."

"Who said I was lonely before?" Piccolo demanded, King Kai raised his brow at Piccolo. A red blush spread over Piccolo's cheeks when he realized that King Kai could read his mind the entire time he was training with Gohan and V, if he did, but Piccolo wasn't going to ask and affirm King Kai's outrageous accusations.

"Shut up." Piccolo snarled storming away, he'd show them, he'd show them all when he got back to Earth _V might stand with me_ Piccolo thought _Gohan doesn't have it in him to hurt me_ Piccolo assured himself _Goku couldn't even kill me when I was trying to kill him._

V

"So how long do you think?" Krillin asked leaning over Bulma as she looked at gauges and numbers he didn't understand.

"right now." Bulma smiled as the green and blue planet came into the view.

"awesome!" Krillin exclaimed "hey, Gohan." Krillin grabbed Gohan's shoulder and broke their connection.

"Hey." Gohan frowned at him "I was in the middle of training."

"We're here." Krillin couldn't help but smile, they were that much closer to wishing the others back now.

"We're here?" V asked breaking her meditation

"yeah, V, we're here." Gohan leapt up and grabbed V's hands "we're so close, V." V just stared out the window at the vaguely familiar planet. V took a breath and squeezed Gohan's hands "yeah, we're here." V went to the window as Bulma flew closer to it.

"Nice landing, Bulma." Krillin said when they landed.

"Thanks now just give me a minute to check the air…" Bulma trailed off when she saw the other outside already. "you idiots!" Bulma screeched.

"I've been here before." V reminded her "the air is fine." V looked around at the familiar trees and grass, the smell reminded her of just a few years before when she was just a little smaller, and much weaker. "we need to find Dronare." V said, "I think I can find his village, he'll be able to tell us where to find Nail and Guru."

"Do you feel that?" Krillin suddenly asked, Gohan and V nodded sensing the energies just a moment later.

"they could be namekian's." V said hovering off the ground to get a better look, she peered in the direction of the energies until they came into view. "No…" V swallowed hard and landed back on the ground "No… it-it can't be."

"What's wrong, V?" Gohan looked at V.

"Those uniforms." V shook her head "it can't be."

"Heads up guys." Krillin landed beside Gohan and V not taking his eyes from the sky.

"These guys don't feel very strong though." V thought aloud, that didn't make sense.

"V, could you have a break down later, we need you to be on your toes right now." Krillin snapped.

"Why? They're weak." V stated factually. "you could beat them both, no problem." V shook her head _it has to be a coincidence_ V thought.

"Well well, we got ourselves some visitor." One blue skinned guy smirked.

"V," Gohan whispered "they're dressed like you were."

"You guys sure picked a bad time for a vacation." The green one snickered and clicked his scouter on. "Hmm…" he read everyone's power level "nothing special here." The green one said but the blue alien was watching V's tail swishing back and forth. V stared back with wide eyes _if these guys really are working with him then I'd better not make them angry_.

"You there?" the blue one pointed at V "are you a saiyan?"

"no." V shouted back completely oblivious of her tail.

"Sure looks like you are." The green one finally saw it there behind her, waving like a flag.

"Frieza will want to see you." The aliens landed around V. V stepped out, she could handle these guys now, she was stronger, faster, better. The green one smirked as he watched her ready to fight. What good could a small girl do against one of Frieza's men, after all.

"Get away from her." Gohan stepped forward first, it didn't matter if V was strong enough to fight on her own, she shouldn't have to.

"What are you going to do about it?" The green one asked.

"nothing." V grabbed the green one's hand and threw him into the blue one. The two flew back toward Krillin, thinking quickly, Krillin kicked them into the sky, Gohan phased into the sky above them and kicked them into the ground. the two soldiers lay on the ground, out cold.

"That was easy enough." Gohan smiled at V but v was staring out at the sky.

"Now we have something to worry about." V said. In the distance V could see twenty more soldiers coming their way.

"If all those guys are that weak." Krillin laughed "then we'll be gone in no time." Krillin slapped Gohan on the back "am I right?"

"Those have to be the low level soldiers." V explained, "feel them, the ones coming are much stronger." V clenched her hands into fists. V was fairly certain that she, Gohan and Krillin were stronger but they were definitely out numbered.

"If we fight smart, we can beat them." Krillin assured not only Gohan and V but also himself. Krillin was the adult, he knew he was but he was going to have to remember that Gohan wasn't the defenseless four-year-old that showed up at kame house and V was a ruthless saiyan child who only knew fighting. They could win this, for their friends.

"Ready guys?" Krillin asked.

"Stay close, Gohan." V said "they have a lot more experience than you."

"Right." Gohan was somewhat confidence in his fighting ability now, but he was still just a kid, how much could he do against trained alien killers?

"A lot more than you think." V smiled at Gohan. Gohan ceased to question it when she answered questions he didn't ask out loud because he did the same thing to her.

"What do we have here?" The strangest looking creature Gohan had ever seen landed directly in front of him. V Inched closer to him.

"We're not looking for any trouble." Krillin tried to reason with them, maybe aliens could be reasoned with.

"Well you've found it." An even bigger alien landed in front of Krillin and a slightly smaller one in front of V, V stared the alien down, he seemed vaguely familiar to her.

"We came a very far way from home." V said to them all "we're not leaving without getting what we need." V looked each of them in the eye, the way she'd seen Vegeta do time and time again. "is that a problem with you?" V stepped toward them first. Again, the leader spotted her tail and smiled.

"the saiyan monkeys are always so cocky." He laughed ignoring Gohan and coming to stand in front of her "what are you, three years old?"

"I'm stronger than you." V said exceptionally cocky for her.

"Oh yeah?" he asked "why don't we just see about that?"

"It's your funeral." V almost hated herself for using Vegeta's lines.

"A friendly match then." The leader waved his hand, his men stepped back, V nodded once at Krillin and Gohan and they fell back behind her.

"Rules?" V asked

"Win." his fist slammed into her face, V skid back across the ground and straight into the ship. Bulma screeched, Gohan called out to her but V just got back to her feet and smirked "I hope that wasn't your best shot." V charged forward in a blur and slammed her knee into the alien's chin. The alien flew backward right into his men knocking them over like bowling pins.

"Strike!" Krillin cheered, he knew V was strong but watching her fight was a whole other story.

"Go, V!" Gohan cheered.

"Careful there, kid." Another alien cautioned eyeing Gohan.

"Nice hit." The leader got to his feet "now why don't we stop playing around?"

"your move." V said stepping out. The leader charged again, V side stepped and dodged his initial attack.

"V watch out!" Gohan called. The leader grabbed V's tail and threw her into the ground. V cushioned the blow with her arm and grabbed his arm with her tail. Holding him in place V spun out and slammed her foot into his face. The leader slid across the ground, V charged and kicked him into the water. He disappeared under a splash, his men ran to him.

"Kou!" The one that seemed second in comman leaned over the water, ready to jump in for his leader. Water exploded showering everyone in large globs of water, eyes blazing Kou glated at V "how did you do that?" He demanded.

"I'm better than you." V said haughtily.

"You tail, you idiot." He snapped "I grabbed your tail."

"I'm stronger than that now." V said obviously "hope that wasn't your big plan." V stuck her tongue out at the guy. Gohan laughed, she had this under control. Krillin just stared and shook his head. How was it, such a powerful little girl was still… just a little girl?

Kou charged V, V dodged and pulled her tail around her waist just to make sure. Kou smirked at V and charged again and again. V did her dance as she dodged every hit almost effortlessly. V let herself go. She didn't need to try to be good right now, she didn't need to try to be evil. IN this fight, in this moment, she was just herself and V really liked to be herself. V dipped and dodged and twirled out of the way. Gohan was mesmerized by what looked like a well-rehearsed dance. Bulma couldn't help but stare at this strangely majestic fighting machine.

"hold still and we'll see how well you take a hit." Kou growled at her.

"Speed up." V said simply "maybe you'd be able to hit me then."

"you little runt." He pummeled the air with a barrage of punches and kicks, frustration turned to angry, how could such a young girl be so fast?

"Big runt." V quipped back, why did everyone always call her a runt?

"That doesn't even make sense?" he slammed his fist into air again.

"Over here." V kicked him into the ground, following up, the way Piccolo taught her, V threw an energy blast at him. It hit. V smiled triumphantly, she was just a little too cocky in that moment, she was just a little too much Vegeta. One of Kou's men grabbed V and locked her tight in his arms "boss, I've got her." He smirked.

"you jerk." Gohan yelled charging forward.

"No." V snapped smirking at the alien over her shoulder. There was a part of V that she rarely used, the only thing Raditz taught her to control. When she was young she hurt them once, they thought she was simply born destructive because what kind of child hurt with just a touch? Unless she was evil. V dropped the energy she surrounded herself in, she felt the pull almost immediately. His energy drained like water down the sink. His body seized and V just hover there, she didn't even try to throw him off.

Gohan watched a part of V he had never seen before, she looked different, she looked like… "V stop!" Gohan called to her "you already beat him." Sense seemed to drop over V's eyes like a thick curtain obscuring the other V. V pushed the soldier off and let him fall to the ground.

"I didn't mean to." V whimpered staring in horror at the soldier, she hadn't meant to go that far, she thought she could control it.

"It's okay, V." Gohan said "just come back down here, it's okay." Gohan smiled but V felt the hesitation, it was like a wall that hadn't been there before.

"No, I didn't mean to, it was an accident." V tried to find the words to make the wall go away but Gohan wasn't sure what to think of this other side of her, she wasn't really dangerous, right?

"I-" Kou nailed V with an energy blast and sent her into the ground, she didn't get up.

"That looks better." Kou smiled down at her, an energy blast raised over his head. "you had a lot of spunk in you kid, but here is where it ends, you're too bull headed for Frieza anyway."

"V!" Gohan charged forward, a fist intercepts him and threw him into Krillin.

"Gohan!" Bulma cried out. V watched but she couldn't move herself _am I bad_ She asked herself, she didn't think so… but that look Gohan had given her.

Gohan fought the soldiers off, Krillin beside him but there were so many of them. He wasn't going to be able to make it to her in time.

"Bye bye, little girl." Kou said.

 _I'm not bad, I can't be bad_ V thought sadly

"V, please fight back." Gohan begged, he felt her sadness like it was his own. _Why is she feeling so sad now? She was just okay_ Gohan wished he had the time to figure it out, or that he could figure it out faster.

 _Dad thinks I'm good, or he wouldn't leave me alone with Gohan._

"V, you have to fight back." Krillin yelled at her.

"V, please!" Gohan yelled "you can't do this right now, V, please." Gohan kicked an alien into another alien and swung around and threw a blast at another. V's sadden morphed into sorrow, it was so strong Gohan found it affecting him.

 _How can I beat these guys, I'm just a kid, I'm not like my dad…_

Gohan and V's insecurities floated back and forth between each other. V mistook Gohan's feelings of himself for his feeling for her and she sank further into herself.

"Did you want to watch them die first?" Kou asked V as he watched her wither like a dried up flower. V's eyes searched for Gohan but something else pulled her attention away. A shadow fell over her, V's eyes trailed up to familiar spikey hair and a familiar smile, only a little bit older.

"Get away from her." Veltro grabbed Kou's wrist and pushed it back, the energy shot out and hit one of his own soldiers. Veltro narrowed his eyes at Kou "don't make me ask again." He said. V thought he looked a little silly, he wasn't this kind of person, he was more like a peaceful Nemekian, gentle and soft and breakable. At least he was.

"Hi." Veltro smiled at V looking more like himself. "it's been awhile."


	8. Chapter 8

**If you have yet to Read THE NAMEKIAN SAIYAN, please read before this chapter, things will make a lot more sense if you know what happened when V first came to Namek.**

 **please enjoy and please leave your thought behind**

 **...**

"What are you doing here?" V asked, some new feeling came over V as Veltro looked down at her, he started to laugh "you look silly like that, don't worry, I'm even stronger now." Veltro threw Kou into another alien and reached his hand down "here, let me help you." V looked at his hand for a moment, he was different, the same but… different.

"I don't need your help." V smacked his hand away, Veltro didn't even flinch, he just smiled "I missed you, Veroca." Veltro grabbed V from the ground and squeezed her.

"Stop, you're mad at me." V pushed him away and frowned at him "you're not my friend anymore."

"Why?" Veltro's smile fell and V could barely stand what she felt from him.

"You said if I told, you wouldn't be my friend anymore." V crossed her arms and glared at the ground.

"V!" Gohan yelled. V snapped into action, ignoring Veltro, V charged into the fight. V tackled Kou "no more games." V warned. She grabbed him and threw him into the ground. Then she grabbed another alien and slammed him into Kou. Krillin and Gohan followed suit, throwing their own opponents on top of Kou.

"But you didn't tell." Veltro said appearing in front of the blast V was forming,

"Veltro, move." V yelled at him.

"we're still friends." Veltro said "You didn't break the promise."

"Veltro, stop it." V yelled at him not lowering the blast.

"Who's he?" Gohan asked flying up beside V with his own blast.

"I'm her friend, who are you?" Veltro asked a little confused and maybe just a little bit jealous. Just looking at the two, Veltro could see something there.

"I'm her brother." Gohan said oblivious to Veltro's tone.

"you didn't say you had a brother." Veltro frowned getting more confused.

"Please, move, Veltro." V pleaded, the soldiers were coming to.

"tell me what's going on first." Veltro said looking between Gohan and V, he was supposed to be her best friend, her family, she chose to leave to keep him safe but now she had a new family?

"That's kind of a long story." Krillin interjected "why don't you help us beat these guys and then we'll all sit and talk, okay?" Krillin met Veltro's eyes, he seemed innocent enough.

"Okay." Veltro finally agreed squeezing between Gohan and V. Gohan didn't seem to notice or mind, which made Veltro feel just a little bit better.

"Now!" V called out. The four released their energy attack together. The attack morphed into a single blast and knocked the pile of soldiers into the ocean. No one else saw it but Veltro did, Veroca's brother and Veroca's blast were almost drawn together, like two halves of a single thing.

"Who taught you to fly?" Veltro asked eyeing Veroca's bother.

"Piccolo." V said "a Namek who grew up on Earth."

"There was a Nemekian on earth?" Veltro asked surprised. V nodded "yeah, two actually but they're the same Nemekian in two." V held up two fingers.

"Piccolo and Kami." Gohan filled in, he held his hand out to Veltro "Hi, I'm Gohan."

"Veroca's brother?" Veltro said in a questioning kind of manner sliding his eyes toward V.

"It's V now." V corrected him. Veltro frowned "so…" Veltro dug his foot into the ground "how many things have changed?" Veltro didn't want to be mad at Veroca, he understood why she left before, he really did. It took him some time but he finally understood and he knew, he just knew she would come back to him and they could be best friends forever.

"Raditz is dead" V wasn't sure where to start, that seemed like the beginning of it though.

"Did you?" Veltro asked. V shook her head "my dad and Piccolo, he kidnapped Gohan, so our dad went to save him and Piccolo just didn't like Raditz."

"Dronare would have taken care of him if you let him." Veltro said so quietly V wasn't sure if Veltro wanted her to hear it.

"He would have brought Nappa and Vegeta here and people would have gotten hurt." V tried to explain, but how could someone so innocent understand the kinds of bad things that V had to live with. How could he understand what it felt like to look evil in the eye?

"Dronare is stronger and even if he wasn't Nail and our other warriors are." Veltro almost yelled, V had that effect on him, she made him forget the way a Nemekian acted. He guessed that was the Saiyan blood in him.

"it wasn't the right time." V said, what else could she say?

"But now you have a family?" Veltro clenched his hands into fists, the anger, he thought was over, came bubbling to the surface. "we were supposed to be best friends and you were supposed to live here and we were going to be your family, me and Dronare and you, we were going to be a family."

"I didn't want you to get hurt." V yelled at him feeling her own blood boil. "I didn't want to even bring bad here, Raditz already hurt you, all Vegeta or Nappa had to do was hold you and then blow everything up around them and no one would do anything because they love you and they wouldn't want to hurt you, even if it meant them getting hurt."

Gohan wasn't sure what to say, or what to do. V had never fought with anyone like this before and Veltro just seemed upset that Gohan was with her.

"Well I didn't want you to be hurt either." Veltro frowned at her "why doesn't that matter?"

"Because I don't deserve it." V snapped "you are good, Gohan is good and I'm…" V sighed "I'm not." V thought back to the look on Gohan's face when he saw her before. V remember the first time she met Veltro when she tried to hurt him and the only reason she couldn't was because he was stronger than her.

"V, what are you talking about?" Gohan came up to V. Veltro snapped his eyes over to Gohan, Veltro didn't know why Gohan bothered him so much "her name is Veroca."

"I told you, they call me V." V snapped with equal ferocity, maybe a little more.

"I call you Veroca." Veltro softened the slightest bit when he turned back to V.

"Fine." V said "you can still call me that." V couldn't imagine him calling her V really, that seemed like something that belonged in the present and the future, Veltro was from her passed.

"Besides, you didn't even keep the bad away." Veltro said a little bitter.

"What do you mean?" V asked.

"People showed up a few days ago." Veltro said "they're dressed like you…" Veltro trailed off when he saw what V was wearing. "You're dressed like a Namekian." Veltro had the slightest trace of a smile on his face despite that fact that he was angry for reasons he could explain.

"People dressed in that kind of armor?" V asked pointing at the place the soldiers just were. Veltro nodded "yeah, just like that."

"Oh no." V's heart stopped, she caught the energy signal immediately.

"Do you feel that?" Gohan asked, Krillin nodded, V looked at the sky "hide." V whispered "hide now." V grabbed Veltro's tail with her own as she grabbed Gohan's hand and ran under into the cave.

"What's wrong, V-Veroca?" Gohan and Veltro asked at the same time. Veltro tried to ignore Gohan as well as Gohan was ignoring him, at least, Veltro thought Gohan was ignoring him.

"No… no, no,no nonononononono." V felt her heart rate jump, her breath hitched. Gohan and Veltro tried to calm her down but V was almost disappearing in her panic. V knew what her dad would do, he'd try to comfort her, she knew what Vegeta would do, they'd laugh at her. But Piccolo, Piccolo would do whatever it took to make her get a grip. She imagined having him there.

 _Get a grip_ She imagined him saying _you think you can protect Gohan like that, you think you'll ever get the Dragon balls like that?_

 _No, but he's… he's so bad… he's so strong._ V gulped in air and pulled at her own hair _No, no, no I have to be better._ V

 _Get a grip_ Piccolo's voice felt so real in her head she actually froze.

 _You are a warrior, now act like it_ imaginary Piccolo ordered

 _But I'm scared_ V whimpered in her head

 _Being scared or being fearless doesn't change what has to be done_ Piccolo snapped at her _now protect Gohan and get all of Goku's useless friends back to him_

"okay." V whispered to herself.

"you broke her." Veltro accused Gohan shoving him into the wall.

"She's not broken." Gohan snapped back "she just has moments."

"hey." V grabbed Veltro and yanked him away from Gohan "don't do that again." V warned. Veltro frowned at her but didn't say anything.

"Frieza is here." V finally admitted out loud.

"who's Frieza?" Veltro asked.

"The one I wanted to protect you from." V looked at Veltro with sad eyes and Veltro's anger melted away. "Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz were my bosses." V sighed "and Frieza was their's"

"look guys, we beat Vegeta." Krillin tried to lighten the mood "and were all much stronger since that fight, I think we can take anyone who comes along."

"No." V shook her head "we can't, Frieza is the most power being in the entire galaxy." V shivered feeling his energy even from this distance. "he's pure evil, and he loves to torment people." V squeezed her hands "no one can beat him and if he's here for the Dragon balls."

"Veroca!" Veltro exclaimed glancing at others. "that's just a game." Veltro tried to cover her mistake. V finally smiled at him "it's okay, Kami made Dragon balls on Earth, they already knew about them."

"So… you told them about our Dragon balls?" Veltro looked hurt.

"Only because Earth's Guardian died and we were just going to ask to use them to wish back our friends." V said quickly "but only if it's okay, these are good guys, they'd never do something they weren't allowed to do."

"But…" Veltro slid his eyes toward them "they're still outsiders and how many more friends do you have now?"

"they're not really mine, they

Re my dad's and one of them is Piccolo, but I don't know if we're friends like me and you are friends, he just taught me how to fly and fight and we don't get along well with a whole lot of other people." V tried to explain but she wasn't too sure what kind of friends spent most of the time trying to hurt each other, maybe that was called something else.

"I'm sure Guru would understand but these guys have been going around to the villages and hurting people and they've been collecting the Dragon balls. We need to stop them. Or no one's going to ever get to use the Dragon balls again." Veltro's eyes pleaded with V "help me?" he asked.

"Yes." V smiled and Veltro hugged her, V hugged him back without hesitation this time. Last time she was on Namek she didn't understand a lot, but since her visit she learned more about friends.

"yeah, I found her." Veltro seemed to be talking to no one, Krillin and Gohan looked questioningly at each other and wondered about V's friend.

"He's talking to Dronare." V explained feeling their confusion "Namekians are telepathic, remember, Gohan?" V asked. Gohan thought back to watching Piccolo and V converse, or more V annoying Piccolo while he was trying to meditate quietly time and time again.

"oh yeah, but does that mean you're telepathic too?" Gohan asked _and does it mean I am too?_ Gohan wondered thinking of his double awareness of V.

"No, Dronare is doing all the work, Veltro is just not fighting it." V explained.

"Yes, she's okay, but… she has a new friend." Veltro only looked for a second but Gohan caught the slightest twinge of sadness in his eyes before he turned his eyes back toward the sky and pushed on ahead. V looked into time to see Veltro smile at something Dronare must've said.

"Okay, we'll be there soon." Veltro nodded "bye."

"Dronare?" V asked just to say something, Veltro was acting weird and she didn't know what to do about it.

"Yeah, he says hi…" Veltro took a fraction of a second to compose himself before continuing "he missed you too."

"I missed you all the time." V tried to assure him, she thought about him a lot, a lot more than she would have liked to because it hurt to think of him, it made her sad. Then when she found out they were really going to Namek, she wasn't sure what to feel, things were different now, everything was different between them. She had family now, when she left because she wanted to keep him safe, did that mean she didn't want to keep Gohan as safe as she was trying to keep Veltro?

"You okay, V?" Gohan asked, her feelings were so overwhelming sometimes.

"I think he's made at me." V sighed, Gohan was easy, easy as breathing, easy as living. V couldn't explain it, it just was.

Veltro glanced back every so often to see V but she was always next to Gohan and they were always talking and there was nothing between them, no secrets, he bet, no misunderstanding. Veltro boiled a little at the idea that Gohan was her best friend and he wasn't anymore. He should have made her stay, he shouldn't have let her go with Raditz. _He_ was the one that should have saved her.

"Veltro?" V flew up beside him "are you okay?" V asked, she felt a lot from him in that moment, none of it was good. "I though you weren't mad at me anymore, I thought you were happy to see me."

"I am." Veltro snapped harsher than he meant. V was used to harsh tones, she didn't even flinch at it, but that didn't make Veltro feel any better.

"I'm sorry." He said before turning away from her and staring at the sky again.

"You sound mad." V said plainly.

"Well, I'm not." Veltro bit out, not quite as harsh "I'm very happy to see you, Veroca." He wanted to bite his tongue for not being able to control it. He was happy to see her, he was beginning to think he'd never see her again, or that maybe she didn't want to see him again, but neither of those things were true and she was here, she was finally here and he was being a meanie.

"I'm very happy to see you too." V said in a much nicer tone. V had almost forgotten that look on Gohan's face as they flew together with Veltro and Krillin, their thoughts drifting back and forth as if they were talking constantly on some deeper level.

"How have you been?" Veltro asked finally getting himself under control, at least she had stopped talking to Gohan so much now.

"Bad." V said and then smiled "and then good."

"when good?" Veltro asked.

"When Raditz rook me to Earth and my dad and Gohan found me and then Raditz found us and Kidnapped Gohan and then Dad and Piccolo teamed up and beat Raditz and then Piccolo took us ands trained us. I thought Piccolo was a bad guy at first but that's not true, he just thought he was supposed to be bad, I know what bad guys look like and he's not one."

"he thinks he's bad though?" Veltro asked "was he rasied bad?"

"yeah, his dad was bad and told him in his head to be bad and so he was but someone else told him to be bad so that means he's not really bad." V was glad to tell someone about Piccolo, Since coming to Earth everyone introduced her and talked about her but they all new eachother, she was the new one there, here, people knew her. Now, she got to talk about everybody to the others.

"Sounds like someone else I know." Veltro said not looking at V. Gohan understood it though. Krillin heard and knew who he was talking about but V sighed, oblivious to the implication and sighed wishing Veltro was talking about her. But he could be because she actually was bad, she was just trying really hard to be good.

"Here." Veltro and V said at the same time.

"I missed this place." V smiled at the house that had been the closest thing to him before Earth.

PICCOLO

 _Now protect Gohan and get all of Goku's useless friends back to him_

Piccolo wasn't sure how or why it kept happening but every so often it was like he was getting sucked into V's mind during times of self-doubt. he meditated almost all night and day trying to figure out how to do it on command so that he could check in on them when he pleased but times like this last one where she wasn't even aware that it was him and not her overactive imagination. Piccolo smirked and settled back into hi normal mediation waiting for it to happen again. _The more time Gohan and V spend together the more like one being they become_ Piccolo thought amused.

"you know, for someone who meditates all the time you sure don't protect your thoughts very well." King Kai said appearing from thin air. Piccolo growled quietly to himself, he would not let this old fool get to him.

"Checking up on Goku's kids again?" King Kai snorted "why don't you stop babysitting and come join the others in another match, I think they had you against the ropes last time."

"those idiots couldn't beat V if their lives depended on it _maybe they will once we're all wished back to earth_ Piccolo let the evil thought trail off and went back to ignoring King Kai.

"now boys." King Kai shouted. Piccolo felt it long before King Kai had given the signal. Piccolo knew a façade when he saw one.

"Hiya!" Yamcha shouted. Piccolo disappeared before Yamcha's very eyes leaving his cape and turban behind.

"Where'd he go?" Yamcha wondered aloud trying to sense him, but Piccolo was a sneaky guy.

"boo." Piccolo grabbed Yamcha's head, stretching his arm Piccolo swung Yamcha on a circled and threw him into Tien and Tien into Chioatzu.

"You have gotten better." Piccolo conceded "but I underestimated you last time, I won't do that ever again, with any opponent." Piccolo walked away from the pile of fighter and King Kai's ever watchful eye _Piccolo might be the mentor_ King Kai thought _But he definitely learned that from V_.

"good job boys, maybe next time. King Kai said "now how about some dinner."

"alright!" Tien, Yamcha and Chioatzu rushed after King Kai. Piccolo rolled his eyes _if you reward the dog anyway, nothing is learned_ he looked toward the clouds because there was really no other place to look, did they exists above the physical realm or beside it? Piccolo wondered, wither way he was hoping his stay here was within days away now. He was pretty sure they were on the real Namek this time and if that were true, he'd be finished with this place sooner rather than later _still, why was V so afraid?_ He had known her a fair amount of time now and she didn't get afraid, not like that, for no reason. _I'll have to keep an eye on them, not that there's much I can do from here but I'd rather not find out from someone else._

GOKU

"Someone order some of these?" Yajirobe entered the hospitol room holding out a familiar brown bag.

"No way! Goku exclaimed nearly jumping out of bed.

"Mr. Goku, please." The doctor said annoyed with his patient.

"Tire of these guys yet?" Yajirobe chuckled.

"Am I?" Goku squirmed in the nurses arms.

"Open wide." Yajirobe took a bean from the bag.

"Now wait one minute." The doctor said "I didn't approve this, I don't need someone giving my patient some strange food item."

"Can it doctor." Yajirobe said flicking the bean straight into Goku's mouth. Goku chewed and swallowed and leapt out of bed.

"Mr. Goku!" The doctor exclaimed Goku's body knitted itself back together within seconds, he flexed and the bandages and casts crumbled apart. Goku back flipped effortlessly over the bed and to the cabinets where a fresh pair of clothes sat neatly folded on one of the shelves.

"Alright, Chichi." Goku threw his hospitol gown off and his gi on. The doctor and nurses watched in amazement as their crippled patient walked effortlessly across the room and to the large man in the middle of the room.

"Here, I think you're gonna need these more than I do." Yajirobe said handing the bag to Goku.

"Thanks, Yajirobe. Maybe I can get there in time to actually help." Goku turned and ran out the window "NIMBUS!" he yelled leaping out of the window. Nimbus flew under him and wisked him off toward capsule corp.

"Dr. Breiph!" Goku called as he jumped off of Nimbus and landed in their yard.

"Oh, Goku!" Mrs. Breiph exclaimed "what a lovely surprise, it's been so long, would you like a snack?"

"Uh, no thanks, I'm just looking for Dr. Breiph, I was wondering how he was doing on that spaceship."

"Oh, that, he's working on it night and day but I'll tell you what it's starting to really look like something." She smiled "come on, I'll show you."

"Thanks." Goku glanced around as Mrs. Brieph led him through their extravagant yard and through their extravagant doors.

"Honey, Goku's here to see you." Mrs. Brieph called to her husband.

"Oh, Goku." Dr. Brieph came out from the inside of a bigger version of the space pod the Saiyans used.

"Wow, it's looks amazing." Goku said "is she ready to fly?"

"not yet, no." Dr. Brieph shook his head "not even close."

"not even close." Goku's face fell. "how much longer do you think?"

"I still need to install the expresso machine." Dr. Brieph said.

"I don't care about expresso!" Goku dropped his hands.

"well sure, you say that now…" Dr. Brieph said. "but in the morning when you wake up and you realize you don't have a good cup of Joe."

"I don't need an expresso." Goku whined through gritted teeth "what else do you have to do to have it ready?" Goku asked

"Well, if you're sure you don't want the coffee," Dr. Brieph began.

"No, I don't need it." Goku insisted.

"well, then she's ready to go now." Dr. Brieph said.

"Awesome!" Goku ran into the ship. Dr. Brieph peeked his head in. "All you need to do is and press that button and it'll take you right to Namek."

"Really!" Goku exclaimed excitedly.

"oh, I almost forgot. I turned the entire ship into a training center for you just like you asked. It goes all the way up to one hundred times gravity but I suggest you not go straight to the max gravity increase, if you get to it at all."

"Awesome, thanks!" Goku looked at all the controls "now which one makes it go?"

"The big red one." Dr. Briephs said. "you should be there in six days."

"that's amazing. Well, then I guess I'm off." Goku pushed Dr. Brieph out, shut the door and hit the button.

"alright guys, here I come."

V

"Well, you've gotten bigger." Dronare offered V a friendly smile with his hands fisted on his hips. "and who might these people be?" he was trying not to be suspicious but it was in his nature, after all he had to keep Veltro safe and Veltro seemed to be a little adverse to the boy and the blad one.

"This is my brother Gohan." V said nudging Gohan forward "and that's Krillin, he's an Earthling but Gohan is half saiyan."

"Really, only half?" he asked. Gohan nodded and offered his hand to Dronare "yes, it's a pleasure to meet you. My mom is an earthling and my dad is a Saiyan but he didn't know it until two years ago."

"Really, that must be when you met Veroca." Dronare guessed.

"yeah, the Saiyan that had V was my dad's brother." Gohan informed him, ever the polite scholar.

"What a twist of fate then." Dronare placed a hand on V's shoulder "funny how the universe works things out, isn't it?"

"maybe she was supposed to stay with us." Veltro interjected anxiously, did the universe not want them to be friends?

"Calm down, Veltro." Dronare walked over to him "Veroca is still your friend, just like you have lots of friends and still have Veroca as your friend." Dronare patted Veltro's shoulder.

 _Is he okay?_ V tried to will the message to Dronare, it was an entirely new feeling when their minds linked.

 _He's had some troubles since you left_ Dronare's concern was evident in his thoughts. _He worried about you so much, he felt so bad for letting you leave and he thought when you came back it would be just you_ Dronare chuckled a little internally _I think he's a little jealous of your brother_

 _I don't understand_ V thought confused _I though he was happy to see me, he said he was._

 _He is, he just didn't think he'd have to share you._

 _But I have to share him and you have to share him_ V pointed out. Dronare could help the amused smile on his face as he patted Veltro's head until he calmed down and tried to explain the thing that had changed most in Veltro since V left.

 _Veltro has never been hurt in his life before, no one ever left him, no one he knew had ever passed._

 _He's lucky_ V thought

 _I supposed I protected him too much_ Dronare mentally sighed _when you came here, I was worried you'd hurt him_ Dronare admitted _I was right, in the end, but not in the way I thought I'd be._ Dronare climbed back to his feet and nodded at Veltro, Veltro nodded back seeming more normal than before _When you left he felt like he lost you forever, as if you had died because he didn't know if he'd ever see you again_

 _But I didn't, I just left for a little bit_

 _But…_ Dronare posed a serious question _when you get what you've come for, when we finish fighting off this new tyrant and everything is over with?_ Dronare looked V in the eye for this _when it's time to go home… are you going to leave him again?_

 _I…_ V glanced between Gohan and Veltro, she had intended to return home, she hadn't even considered staying with Veltro. But Veltro was the first one to offer her a home. V felt sick to her stomach.

"I need to go outside." V stumbled out the door, tripping over her own feet twice before disappearing through the threshhold.

Gohan felt bad for doing it, but it wasn't like he could stop it either. He had almost heard Dronare and V talking, mostly hear V's voice but he got a sense of what Dronare was saying _is V thinking about staying?_ Gohan watched V leave the room _you can't leave, you're my sister._ Gohan thought.

Krillin felt like he was missing something. He knew V was somewhat telepathic, he knew Namekians were telepathic but Gohan watched V and Dronare glance at eachother and make meaningful eye contact as if he were keeping up with the whole silent exchange _AM I THE ONLY NON-TELEPATHIC BEING ANYMORE_ Krillin screamed at himself.  
"I'll come with you." Veltro tried to follow her out but Dronare caught him and shook his head "she's been sad too, Veltro." Dronare said wisely "give her time to think."

"but…" Veltro sighed, there wasn't any chance of arguing with Dronare when he said stuff like this. "okay, but we still need to find out about this guy." Veltro reminded him.

"we will, she'll be back in just a minute." Dronare grabbed Veltro's hand and waved toward the back door "Veltro was about to have a meal before he felt Veroca's energy, you're all welcome to join.

"Sounds good, thanks." Krillin licked his lips. Gohan actually was hungry but he couldn't shake this feeling that he had to somehow prove to V that she belonged with him and mom and dad and Piccolo on Earth. Gohan followed them out, he didn't want to be mad at Veltro and Gohan didn't want Veltro hurt but how could he tell V that staying here is the wrong choice?

V sat with her back against the house and her legs pulled into her chest _am I gonna leave him again_ V wondered _I have a family now, though, it's different._ V wished she could think of something that sounded better but all Veltro was going to hear was that she had the chance to stay here and took her chances out in space with people she hated. _He's gonna think I hate him_ V buried her face into her knees but she didn't have long to sit in her sorrow. In the next moment she felt an incredible power increase followed by several energies fading so low she couldn't even feel them anymore.

"we have to do something." V went to tell the others but then she realized _if I tell them then they're gonna go straight to the fight, straight to Frieza_ V gulped _I'm practically killing them myself._ V was angry for no apparent reason and confused and frustrated with her jumbled thoughts but she was not a coward and she was not going to let people get hurt. V cast one last glance at the house before she gathered her energy, readying herself for a swift silent sprint.

"I'll be back." V swore running as fast as she could without alerting the others to her plans.

Gohan stood there quietly, he hadn't taken a single bite and neither Dronare or Krillin missed it. _Sure_ Krillin thought _he doesn't eat as much as his dad but I've never seen that kid turn down a meal_ Krillin tore into his fish hungrily, he hand't had a real meal in months.

 _He's worried as much as Veltro is_ Dronare noted _I wonder what Veroca will chose_ Dronare cast a glance at Veltro who was eating his fish with a little less enthusiasm than usual _Or, perhaps, what Veltro will chose if she does leave_ Dronare didn't know what to think, there were too many scenarios, of course all of these were assuming they would survive this recent attack _perhaps Veltro would be safer with Veroca, perhaps I should send them all away._ Dronare's heart ached, he had never thought he'd have to be the one to say goodbye to Veltro, possibly never see him again _I think Veroca is the type to mess other plans up_ Dronare thought with slight amusement. Veltro would have been happy still had he never met this alien, Dronare supposed she wasn't really an alien to him, Veroca and Veltro were the same. Still, as much pain as Veroca cause Veltro with her departure, there was a change in Veltro, a new fire Dronare had never seen in him, maybe never would have seen in him had Veroca never showed up on their planet searching for their Magic orbs.

"V's gone." Gohan said suddenly realizing he felt her getting farther away. Her energy was well hidden, that's why no one else could sense it but Gohan could feel it. Veltro frowned at Gohan "how do you know that?" he almost demanded. Dronare set a hand on Veltro's shoulder _she lit a temper in him I've never seen too_ Dronare thought.

"I can feel her." Gohan said trying not to be smug about it because that was just more proof that V belonged with him and his family on Earth.

"So can I." Veltro snapped assuming Gohan was talking about her energy. Gohan shook his head "no, I mean I feel _her_ not her energy, not her essence, it's more like…"

"They're bonded." Dronare realized.

"How!" Veltro exclaimed slightly annoyed "they're not even Nemekians.""

"This kind of bond is not restricted to our race, Veltro, although it is usually a bond reserved for telepathic beings, there are rare occasions…" Dronare couldn't believe he didn't realize it earlier. It was so obvious, they moved together, were more aware of each other than simple sensing could ever provide.

"Is that bad?" Gohan asked

"no." Dronare shook his head, it was actually a very happy occasion, especially for the bonded, they would never find anyone in the universe that they were more comfortable or more accepted than with this bonded being, but… Dronare looked at Veltro, Veltro understood the meaning of these bonds, Dronare also wasn't sure how Veltro was going to take this discovery.

"But it can be dangerous." Dronare warned "especially for two such different people." Dronare knew Gohan and V were like fire and ice, more like the difference between a calm tranquil lake and an active volcano.

"how?" Gohan didn't understand how what V and him felt could be dangerous.

"you will feel what the other feel." Dronare began "you will know what the other knows, this only grows over time." Dronare sighed "but the stronger personality can… ocassionaly, affect the weaker or calmer one."

"You're saying V can corrupt Gohan?" Krillin said in plain English, he knew that girl was bad for him.

"Krillin, V would never-" Gohan began but Dronare cut him off.

"yes, if she allows her self-doubt to take over, Gohan will start to feel that same feeling, only his mind will still process it as his own. The sorrow can consume both of you, if you're not careful."

"How do we un-bond them?" Krillin asked. Dronare laughed sizing Gohan up "why don't you ask him if he wants to be un-bonded."

Krillin tried to get the first word in "Gohan, I know-"

"You don't know." Gohan said "V is good, she's not going to corrupt me and I don't want to lose this." Gohan wasn't even sure how to say it, none of Dronare's words seemed to be right, to be _strong_ enough to encompass what he and V shared.

"It's not important." Dronare said "the bond can't just be un-done anyway." Dronare gave Krillin a look "the universe has a way of putting people together that need to be together, if they are careful and learn to identify which feelings and thoughts are their own, neither will influence the other so much that they lose themselves."

 _…_ _Keep him safe…_

V's thought was like her voice inside his head.

"She's trying to keep us safe again." Gohan almost groaned "she must have felt those energies, she's going to try to take these guys on by herself."

"Well we can't let her." Veltro said, he ignored the entire bond thing, Dronare was wrong, V didn't bond with someone else, if anything V bonded with him, they just weren't around each other long enough to develop the telepathic part of it, that was all.

"Veltro, no!" Dronare chased after Veltro, then Gohan and Krillin followed. Gohan kept his eyes on Veltro. Since meeting V he had felt a sense of belonging and ease when he was around her. It was as if they were always supposed to meet and now he knew why. Gohan swore as he watched Veltro charge forward to help V _I won't let you take her away from me_.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why does she keep doing this?" Veltro groaned mostly to himself but he wouldn't mind Dronare's advice either.

"For someone who thinks she's bad-" Dronare began but Veltro cut him off

"She's not bad." Veltro said with certainty, he knew what bad looked like, even if Veroca didn't think he did.

"I was just going to say, she spends a lot of time trying to save people at her own expense." Dronare gave Veltro a look, Veltro looked away from Dronare to the sky toward V.

"Yeah." Veltro didn't know what else to say, Dronare already knew how he felt, words weren't really necessary between them _like Gohan and V_ Veltro thought sadly _she's not gonna stay here, not now that she has him_ Veltro cast a quick glance at Gohan only to find his innocent but determined eyes staring back at him.

"You really think we should be charging head first into something like this?" Krillin asked Gohan.

"We have to help V." Gohan said simply still watching Veltro _I'm a fighter too_ Gohan thought, that's what V liked about Veltro, right? _I'm part Saiyan_

"Maybe you should just let V do what she wants, huh?" Krillin tried to sway Gohan but even before he began he could see that Gohan wasn't going to change his mind for anything, still, he had to try. "I mean, maybe she's got a good reason for going off alone?"

"No, she's going to get herself killed because she's so afraid of getting someone else hurt." Gohan looked at Krillin "why don't you like her?"

"She keeps putting you in danger." Krillin admitted "you're my best friend's son, I'm practically your uncle."

"Then you're V's uncle too." Gohan reasoned "Dad was the one to say she could be his daughter, Dad brought her into our family and you know what, Krillin, she was meant to come to Earth, and dad and I were meant to find her."

"You can't really believe that whole bonding thing, can you?" Krillin rolled his eyes.

"we believe in magic orbs with a dragon that comes out and grants us a wish." Gohan pointed out "in Kais that train people like my dad to wish them back to life and save the earth." Gohan reasoned again "an alien guardian of the Earth and we just traveled six months across the galaxy to get to a planet to find more magic orbs with another magic dragon."

"Well… that's…" Krillin stumbled over his words "that's not… the same."

"Why not?" Gohan demanded. Dronare smiled, how could an Earthling understand?

"Gohan." Dronare called "there's no way for him to understand, unless they feel the bond, there is no way for them to possibly understand."

"Please don't give him anymore ideas on this whole bonding thing." Krillin sighed, the whole thing was ridiculous, right? _About as ridiculous as magic orbs and wish granting dragons?_ Krillin thought he was open minded but maybe he had just known about the dragon balls so long now, they weren't legend to him, they were just fact. They were as real as the sun. Aliens were just people, evil demon alien kings sometimes tried to take over the world and his alien best friend had to be the one to save it _man, maybe I'm not open-minded after all_ Krillin thought _maybe I'm just too used to some things._

"There." Gohan landed leading everyone to the ground, Veltro only followed with prodding from Dronare.

"where?" Dronare tried to sense V out but she was masking her energy. Gohan followed the ever so slight tug. "this way." Gohan inched forward, he got a sense of stealth. He could sense the big power levels, they felt dark and mucky but he didn't see them yet.

 _I have to do something_

Gohan caught the thought as if he were walking in on a conversation.

 _V, where are you_ Gohan had never intentionally tried to talk to V like this before but if Dronare could do it with Veltro, maybe he could do it with V.

 _Go away_ V snapped at him, Gohan actually staggered back into Dronare.

"she has every strong mental abilities." Dronare chuckled "she yells even when she doesn't mean to." Dronare paused and glanced at Veltro, he could feel the evil energies from these people. _Go home, Veltro_

 _What, why?_ Veltro's face screamed shock but neither Gohan nor Krillin knew what from.

 _Go home, now, don't argue with me_ Dronare gave Veltro a look.

 _no, she needs help_ Veltro thought.

 _You're not strong enough, you're not ready_ Dronare grit his teeth _you ignore me about far too many things_ Dronare grabbed Veltro's arm _this will not be one of them_

Veltro set his jaw and narrowed his eyes at Dronare _I won't leave her_ Veltro pulled his arm away and pushed ahead of the others, he felt V's energy now.

"Veltro, wait." Gohan tried to stop him but Veltro already had his mind set.

"you wait." Veltro snapped _you and Veroca aren't bonded_ Veltro thought angrily _she was my friend first_.

"Veroca, I'm here!" Veltro leapt out from behind the boulder. V whirled around, horror etched on her face as the aliens she was watching turned and saw him.

"No!" V screamed, she didn't have to look to know what was happening behind her. V knew him.

The purple and white animal lifted his finger toward Veltro.

"how cute, we've got a hero." The alien smiled as the energy beam formed on his finger. V rocketed herself into the air and tackled Veltro. The beam nicked her arm and sent them into spiral toward the ground.

"Veltro!" Dronare rushed toward the two kids stuck in the hole.

"Why would you do that?" V demanded of Veltro "they didn'y know I was there, I had the perfect element of surprise."

"I didn't want you to be alone." Veltro said in a small voice, he was used to her nonsencscial anger, the anger she just seemed to carry around and aim at anyone that got within range, but V had never been angry at him before.

"Are you okay?" Dronare pulled Veltro out of the crater and looked him over.

"V, are you okay?" Gohan noticed the little wafts of smoke coming from V;s side.

"I'm fine." V side but Gohan ignored her and turned her around "you got hit." Gohan winced at the hole in V's side. "oh man, I wish dad were here." Gohan wasn't squeamish, how could he be? He'd seen too muc already but he'd be lying if seeing V hurt didn't bother him more than any death he' ever seen, maybe even more than Piccolo, maybe even more than his dad _maybe we really are bonded_ Gohan thought.

"No time for this." V pushed his hands away "I have to go down there, fix this, you guys go, get a head start at least.

"I'm not leaving you." Gohan and Veltro said at the same time.

"I know Veroca is your friend, Veltro." Sorrow filled Dronare's eyes "but you were my son before she was your friend." Dronare gave Veltro a powerful, efficient chop to the neck and Veltro fell into Dronare's arms.

"Veroca, I offer my help still, but I have to get him out of here, he's not ready for this.

"He's more ready than you think." V assured him "but now's not the time to prove it." V nudged Gohan toward him.

"please Gohan, you need to make sure nothing happens to them." V looked Gohan in the eye, there wasn't anything V needed Gohan to do with them, not really but she couldn't let _him_ know about Gohan, saiyan blood was just too precious.

"Did I see a familiar monkey tailed little girl up there?" The purple and white alien called out, it would have been a teasing tone for anyone else but in his voice it was as menacing as ever.

"Please, Gohan, if you're here he can hurt me, if you're not then he has nothing." V pleaded. Gohan felt V's desperation, she wanted him anywhere but there with her.

"Okay." Gohan gave in, V was tough, she could handle pain, but it wouldn't take genius to figure out Gohan's pain tolerance wasn't quite so padded and V's ability to watch was even less.

"keep him safe." V ordered. Gohan nodded but after a second he realized, she wasn't talking to him.

Dronare gathered Veltro up in his arms and nodded toward Gohan "lets go."

"I'm staying here with you." Krillin said eyeing V suspiciously. "that guys power level is insane." Krillin hissed at her "and you expect me to believe you're going to figure this out all by yourself, no, something is up." V wanted to be angry with him, furious that he kept doubting her, but then again, she kept doubting herself. Why should he trust her?

"I promised dad I'd bring both of you home safely." V grit her teeth _why can't he just let me save him_ "you don't have to like me." V said "but I promised and you're going to get yourself killed if you try to take any of them on." V pointed toward the group of aliens.

"and you can?" Krillin challenged. V sighed and stepped back in full view of the aliens.

"Veroca, Vegeta's pet." The purple and white alien practically purred "how good to see you again."

"It's good to be back, Frieza." V said while looking Krillin in the eye.

"

"Veroca, Vegeta's pet." The purple and white alien practically purred "how good to see you again."

"It's good to be back, Frieza." V said while looking Krillin in the eye.

"you-you _know_ them?" Krillin stuttered. "you _know_ _him_?" Krillin demanded.

"Go now." V ordered flying down to the aliens.

"Oh, look at that." Frieaza chuckled "thise idiots finally taught you to fly." Frieaza laughed appraising V "you look much bigger now too, did they teach you to fight as well?"

"No." V said "I taught myself and I killed Raditz and Nappa right after." V said putting as much malice as she could into her words, she needed him to believe them.

"Oh my, what a vengeful little monkey you are." Frieza inched toward her, looking her up and down _could she really have gotten that much stronger?_ Frieza wondered.

"Dodoria." Frieza snapped his tail against the ground "test her." Dodoria moved in, V swallowed hard, she should have expected as much, why would he believe she had gotten so strong, he couldn't understand why she had to, he couldn't understand her reasons for doing so.

"Well, aren't you just all grown up?" Dodoria laughed and launched himself at her. V felt the energy in the air, the vibrations of his energy rippled through the air and V's body reacted before she told it to. Dodoria looked at V, almost impressed and laughed "well, she's not kidding." Dodoria laughed "Nappa sure isn't that fast."

"well well." A smile crawled across Frieza's lips "I always said you could be put to more use than a mere punching bag. All the strength and ability of a saiyan and any other strength and ability I want to give you." Frieza smirked "he was afraid you'd surpass him, that's why he didn't want to train you."

V swallowed hard and tried to keep from trembling, Frieza's energy was overwhelming, it felt like a brick wall pressing against her from both sides. "really?" V asked genuinely curious of Frieza's thoughts of her. Frieza hovered over to V in his throne and patted her head "I know talent when I see it, child, and your potential is unmatched." Frieza smiled strangely, V's stomach churned at the thought of being trapped under another being.

"Why don't you join us, V, we were just interrogating a these villagers." Frieaza moved to the side to showcase his handy work. V's heart dropped into her stomach at the sight of people she knew on the ground, dead. V's hands clenched into fists and she grit her teeth _control yourself_ V ordered herself. _Just for a little bit longer_. V scanned over the bodies _please don't have gotten Nail_ V thought _please not Guru_ V looked at each face because she someone needed to know they were dead. V had wondered often, if she were to get killed, who would miss her? It would be like she never existed, like nothing she endured mattered, as if not even in the slightest bit, she mattered. Was she a mistake by the universe, did the universe even think she was important.

"not even a wince." Frieza mistook her acknowledgment of the bodies as the same cold blooded thirst he had often seen from Vegeta. "I think you'll make an excellent soldier, with a little more training." Frieza turned around "now, come, we still need to get what we came for." Dodoria, Zarbon and V followed after Frieza to an older Namekian with two younger ones holding onto his ankles. All three Namekians were surrounded by Frieza's men.

"Please, just let the boys go." The older Namekian pleaded looking worn.

"interesting request considering you have yet to fulfill mine." Frieza snapped his tail against the ground. V didn't recognize the older Namekian, at least not by name, but one of the children clinging to his leg, V recognized immediately.

"Dende." V gasped just above a whisper.

"It's rude to interrupt me while I'm trying to talk to this nice gentleman." Frieza slid his eyes toward V. V gulped and bowed her head "I'm sorry." She said, Dende's eyes found V's. simultaneously they linked their thoughts.

 _What are you doing with them?_ Dende asked giving her the benefit of the doubt.

 _Trying to save Veltro and Dronare._ V summed up as quickly as possible _and you guys now too_ V searched for something _anything_ that would get them out of this but there was nothing, there was never anything you could do against Frieza. The only weapon one had against Frieaza was his lack of knowledge of your existence.

 _Dronare and Veltro are okay!_ Dende exclaimed in her head. V resisted the urge to hold her head

 _Yes, but Veltro almost got himself killed before, so I sent him and Dronare away, to find a safer place._

 _I'm glad you did, Dronare needs to be alive, he's hidden the dragon ball from his village, he's been trying to get to each of the villages to recover the dragon balls before these men can get them._

 _So he knows where all of the villages are and where they keep the dragon ball?_ V asked

 _Yes, next to Guru, Dronare knows the most about the dragon balls._ Dende tried to look innocent as he spoke to V, whatever she was planning, he didn't want to be the reason it failed.

"you're awfully quiet there." Frieza's eyes slid toward Dende as if Frieza had heard his thoughts. Dende swallowed hard.

"he's the weakest." V interjected "he's trying not to be noticed." V used Vegeta's bored face and crossed her arms, her tail swished back and forth and she turned to Frieza.

"They won't talk." V said without batting an eye at her lie. Dende actually had gotten a lot stronger since she'd last seen him but there was a different kind of energy coming from him.

"Oh, Veroca." Frieza chortled "is that what Vegeta taught you?" Frieza turned sharp eyes on the Nameks "everyone has a breaking point." Frieza lifted his finger and aimed at the Nameks.

"don't!" V exclaimed before she could stop herself. Frieza slid his eyes toward V "are you sure you have the stomach for this, Veroca?" it wasn't a question, it was a challenge, V set her jaw "yes." V lied, she didn't have the stomach for this, she never did. Not even when she thought it was the way she was supposed to be.

"But I know their race, the dragon balls are their most sacred objects, they'll all die before they let someone else have it." V slid a bored look toward Dende and the others.

"Interesting theory." Frieza mused "I supposed it wouldn't do any good to kill you all if I don't get my information." V sighed internally

"however, this kind of disregard for my authority." Frieza tsked "I'm afraid that alone is a call for death." Frieza's eye glinted and he pointed his finger outward, V barely had the chance to blink before the purple beam shot out from Frieza's finger and hit the small Namekian boy.

"No…" V breathed, just under a whisper. Dende and the older Namek gasped in horror.

"you…you monster." The older Namekian stammered "he was just a boy."

"I guess you'll have to ask your dragon to bring him back to life now." Frieza smirked "why don't we help each other out now."

"I'll never give the dragon balls to you." The older Namek glared at Frieza "no one here will give you what you want." He fell to his knees "just do what you're going to do to me." The older Namek looked at the ground. V felt the telepathic connection when he began speaking to Dende _run when I tell you_

"so sorry to hear that." Frieza sighed "but an example must be made." He raised his finger again. Dende loosened his grip on the older Namek and the older Namek gathered his energy. V tried to figure out a way to help, but what could she _do_?

"Don't worry, you're friends will follow you shortly." Frieza snickered "one by one." The older Namek leapt from the ground "run, Dende!" he shouted shooting out finger beams. The beams hit the scouter on Frieza, Dodoria and Zarbon's faces. Dende ran, V wanted to scream at how slow he was going, doesn't he understand who he's running from.

Frieza frowned, his finger twitched and V knew what he was doing. Frieza was ruthless in every sense of the word, there was simply no good in him to redeem. Frieza ahted when someone took him by surprise and when someone did they cost was their life. V watched Dende desperately try to out run his fate, in this case, frieza would take the life the older Namek was triyng to protect.

"fool." He spat annoyed, _Frieza can't sense energy!_ V suddenly realized. V gathered her energy, almost scooping energy out of the air as she lunged forward. Dende glanced over his shoulder in time to see Frieza's death beam.

"I got him!" V yelled stepping right in front of Frieza's hand.

"you idiot!" Even Frieza was taken aback by V's seemingly idiotic move.

"Hurry, Krillin!" V heard Gohan's voice

 _I told you to get out of here_ V threw the thought at him with all the anger she felt, it was that easy, just don't put yourself in harms way. The beam pierced V's shoulder.

 _V!_ Gohan screamed at her, worried that he had made the wrong move.

 _I'm fine_ V sent the thought to him. she grabbed her shoulder and fell to her knees.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted like she had done so often with Vegeta and Nappa and Raditz. Frieza sighed, mildly annoyed.

"then fix it." He growled snapping his tail against the ground like a whip.

"Yes, sir." V leapt from the ground, her shoulder aching, her blood slipping out. She felt a little woozy but she'd be fine. V blasted off toward Gohan as he flew away, she only used a quarter of her speed, she wanted to keep a fair distance behind them.

 _Dodge on your right_ V told Gohan. Gohan pulled Krillin to the left just as V threw a blast, it exploded beside Gohan, Krillin and Dende but they were unscathed.

"What's she doing?" Krillin snapped, he just knew she wasn't good guy material.

"Not now, Krillin." Gohan snapped "just fly."

 _Fly down._ V ordered throwing another blast. Gohan grabbed Krillin and pulled him down.

"Gohan, tell me you see now." Krillin snapped at him

 _Tell Krillin to do the solar flare at me_ V ordered

"Krillin, solar flare." Gohan ordered following V's directions without hesitation.

"What?" Krillin asked.

"Now, Krillin!" Gohan grabbed Dende from Krillin and flew ahead. Krillin turned and brought his fingers to his head, he met V's eyes

 _I knew you were bad_ Krillin threw the thought at her. V ignored him and stared right into Krillin's eyes

 _Why isn't she going faster?_ Krillin pushed the thought away "Solar flare!" he yelled. Light filled the air. V clenched her teeth together and threw her hands up to cover her eyes.

 _I could finish her right now_ Krillin thought _Gohan would get over it, he couldn't possible still think she was good_

V hovered in the air trying to recover her sight, Krillin gathered the energy in his hand _just one destructo disc and I don't have to wait for her to double cross us._ The disc formed in Krillin palm.

 _I could end this right now_ Krillin gathered more energy, the disc expanded and he locked his eyes on V.


	10. Chapter 10

**_So sorry for missing a last few weeks. I've been so busy with work and school and my youtube Channel and making things (it's that time of year where people are just buying and buying and buying) I usually get super busy around this time with so many order but anyway, here you go, I swear I'm trying to catch up._**

V hovered in the air rubbing at her eyes, her body curled up, her tail circling her.

"Krillin!" Gohan called "what are you doing?" Krillin looked at V and let the disc dissipate into the air.

"I'm coming." Krillin flew toward Gohan and they disappeared. V let the flash wear off and sighed _Frieza isn't going to be happy_ V sighed and flew back to them.

"you lost them" Zarbon sighed, bored, pushing his hair back "never send a monkey to do a man's job."

V's temper flared at the implication, it shouldn't have but maybe if Krillin hadn't been thinking about killing her, she wouldn't be so angry with him.

"Now, now Zarbon," Frieza actually defended her "children must be taught and all she's had are those other idiots to teach her." Frieza hovered over to V and patted her head "don't worry, you'll have more opportunities to learn." Frieza rested his hand on V's shoulder "after all, you have far too much… _potential_." Frieza chuckled as if he knew something no one else did. It was likely that he _did_ know something no one else did.

"come now, V, you'll learn from me." Frieza waved her to his side "Dodoria, go and find those brats." Frieza turned sharp eyes on the Namek huddled over the child. V looked the older Namek in the eye _I'm so sorry._ She thought toward him. he didn't physically acknowledge it but somehow, V got the sense that he heard her.

"You can tell me the location of the next Dragon Ball and I'll have Dodoria bring your other brat back alive or you can deny me again and I'll make sure you watch him die." Frieza's eyes cut like broken glass, the Namek raised his eyes, V felt the energy gather before he leapt in the air aimed a blast straight at Frieza's face.

"you, insolent fool." Frieza muttered spearing the Namek with his death beam. The Namek hit the ground. V swallowed hard and followed after Frieza as he led them into the sky.

"did they teach you anything?" Frieza asked V casually. V considered the question seriously and shrugged "how to take a hit?" she said unsure if that really counted.

"I supposed that's something." Frieza sighed "you seem to have taught yourself a great deal." He noted, was Frieza making small talk with her?

"I didn't want to stay with them." V said honestly "so I made a way out." It was only half true, Goku _gave_ her her way out, but she did choose to stay with them and be good. As good as she can be anyway.

"well, maybe you'll prove useful at some point along the line, Vegeta proved to be of use, maybe there's hope for you yet."

"I'll be better than Vegeta." V huffed, at least this she didn't have to pretend, she would be better than Vegeta and one day he would know, she was better than him.

"That's the spirit." Frieza chuckled "I love that silly saiyan pride you all share." Frieza looked her in the eye and said "do you have the pride of a true saiyan though?"

"Yes." V said with conviction, she could feel the proud bloodline of her ancestors, she didn't have to know her parents, she didn't have to be part of the royal family like Vegeta was, V knew she met Gohan for a reason, she knew she _survived_ for a reason. She was going to be the one to end Frieza, if only to keep him from killing Gohan, she was the one that was going to end him.

Gohan

"you can't possibly think she's still good." Krillin yelled at him "she just shot at us!"

"Is he talking about Veroca?" Dende asked.

"Krillin, she was helping us, she told me where she was going to blast so that I could dodge it." Gohan didn't yell, not like his mom does, he took after his dad like that.

"She's playing you!" Krillin snapped.  
"Veroca would never do that!" Dende yelled at Krillin, his hands clenched into little fists.

"no offense, little guy, but you don't know her like I do." Krillin gave Dende a bit of a condescending look.

"and you don't know her like I do." Gohan pointed out.

"I knew V before both of you." Dende made a point of looking at Krillin when he said it. "she was smaller last time she was here and she didn't dress like us. She dressed like them."

"because when she came here," Krillin said "she _was_ one of them."

"no." Dende shook his head "you're wrong, Veltro would never be friends with someone bad, and Veroca is Veltro's best friend."

"Look, kid." Krillin began

"Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I don't know good from bad and Veroca." Dende looked at the sky, he had hoped Veroca would follow so that he could thank her, he saw what she did, she took that shot for him. "Veroca is good, whether you believe it or she knows it yet or not."

"that doesn't even make any sense, how can you not know if your good?" Krillin demanded. Gohan frowned at him. Krillin would always hold a special place in Gohan's life, he was family, even if he was acting like a big jerk right now.

"Because people have told her her whole life she isn't." Gohan met Krillin's eyes, Krillin sighed, defeated, he wasn't going to convince either of these kids of the truth. V was bad and they'd see it when the time came. He just hoped Gohan wouldn't hold back when he needed to defend himself.

"We'd better get back to Bulma, she'll be doing enough yelling for everyone once she finds out what's happened." Krillin sighed and took to the sky. Gohan offered his hand to Dende to help steady him. Dende smiled at him "thank you."

"So you met, V before?" Gohan asked

"yes." Dende nodded "I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with her because she was only here for a few days and Veltro was always taking her somewhere to show her things. But she went by Veroca then, you call her V?" Dende asked. Gohan nodded.

"yeah, my dad Called her V first, she was nervous when we found her in the woods, she looked lost and a little scared." Gohan chuckled "I don't think she'd ever admit that though, she stuttered over her name and my dad jut though that she was saying her name was V. My dad jumps the gun a bit sometimes." Gohan explained "but V ended up liking that name and she kept it."

"I see." Dende looked at the ground as they flew.

"I'm Gohan by the way." Gohan smiled at him, Dende couldn't help but smile back, this alien was just so nice and if Veroca liked him then he must be good too. "I'm Dende."

"Nice to meet you, Dende." Gohan pointed at Krillin flying just a little way ahead "that's Krillin, he's not always so suspicious."

"Why doesn't he like Veroca?" Dende asked curiously "did she beat him up."

"No." Krillin snapped his cheeks turning red.

"Krillin is just worried about me, he thinks he needs to protect me from V because when she came to earth it was with Raditz, and Raditz was a bad guy." Gohan explained "he's worried she just pretending to be good, but I know she's good, I can feel it." Dende looked at Gohan a little funny "is your kind psychic too?"

"what?" Gohan laughed "oh, no, it's just V I can feel, it's like I always know how she's feeling and the longer we're together the stronger it is, sometimes I can hear her thoughts when she's not trying to talk to me."

"Uh!" Dende exclaimed nearly falling out of the sky in his shock "you're bonded! That's why I can sense you _and_ her."

"What?" Gohan asked confused "I can sense your energy, when you're bonded it's not just thoughts and feelings that flow back and forth, it's power, you carry some of her power with you, always."

"does she have some of mine?" Gohan asked, he didn't want to take power from her that she might need.

"Yes, but it's not like power power, not like fighting power." Dende tried to explain "it's more like a piece of you."

"Dronare said that before, that me and V are bonded." Gohan said "Veltro wasn't too happy about it though." Gohan remembered "what does it really mean?"

"you two are lucky." Dende said "the legends say that everyone is missing a portion of someone else, you and V are very lucky to have even found each other."

"Luck is a relative term here." Krillin muttered but Dende heard him clear as a bell.

"V is good." Dende said with conviction "and when you see that you're going to have to say you're sorry to her."

"I hope you're right, kid." Krillin looked ahead _do I hope they're right_ Krillin questioned his own intentions, _of course I do, that means she's not going to hurt Gohan or our other friends._

GOKU

"Come on." Goku hung upside down the gravity dragging on his muscles "the gravity isn't that high!" Goku wanted to yell at something, _guess now I know why Chichi yells so much_ Goku just wanted to get down from this and get a senzu bean in him, yeah, that'd fix him right up.

"I…can do…this." Goku brought his hands together "ka…me…ha…me…" Goku pushed his hands up aiming at the top of the rope "Ha!" he grunted, the gravity pushed down against the weight of the blast, Goku pushed it farther, it inched closer and closer but it was getting there "come on…" Goku watched the painfully slow blast barely move "come… on!" he grunted just as the weight seemed to press harder and slam his blast back down at him. The blast rammed into his face and threw him back toward the ground, the rope held tight and the gravity tried to rip him in two. Goku screamed. He hung there for a moment panting, trying to think a way out. Goku's thoughts drifted toward Gohan, how he was off on an entire other planet, thousands upon thousands of miles away from him. Gohan could be in trouble, he could need Goku's help and here he was dangling uselessly in the middle of a giant space pod. Then V entered his mind her firm eyes the night before they left, he woke him. she had the most determined eyes he had ever seen centering her stern face as she looked him in the eye and made her oath.

 _"dad I swear, I'll bring them all home safe"_ V had said, her eyes never wavered, she wasn't just saying it to put him at ease, she was saying it because she was willing to go to any length to make it happen _what if they run into something too much for her?_ _What if_ she _needs him right now because she's pushing herself too hard to keep Gohan and Krillin and Bulma safe?_ That was something V would do. V was trying to prover herself to someone she had nothing to prove to. _Darn it, V, why'd you have to go and make a promise like that_ Goku cursed her, but at the same time he would place his life in her hands, but was he really willingly to place Gohan's life in it? They were both just kids, Goku was fairly certain that V was younger than Gohan, she was tinier than him, both in height and frame. She like this petite little doll next to Gohan, especially since Gohan had beefed up from Piccolo's boot camp.

The pain ebbed away as Goku thought of his. kids, his maybe a little too pampered son and his new doll like daughter that thought she was some evil warrior, Goku almost didn't have the heart to tell her how silly she looked when she was trying to look intimidating, she wouldn't understand that just because it's her mean face doesn't mean it looks all that mean to everyone else. Goku was slightly convinced that even her enemies found her mean face adorable. _Huh, does Gohan have a mean face?_ Goku considered it, _maybe not so much mean as serious._ Goku chuckled and felt suddenly the pain wasn't so much, it wasn't so overwhelming. Goku drew his arm back, energy gathering in his hand and lunged toward the rope, in that split second, Goku gained the momentum and strength and sliced the rope, his body smacked against the ground and Goku found himself staring at the ceiling, he was so tired he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to make it to the beans. _Gotta be ready to help_ Goku thought forcing himself over onto his stomach and inching his way toward the bag.

PICCOLO

 _I can't believe it_ Piccolo thought as he meditated, although it made sense since she didn't transform like Gohan and Vegeta did. _but her tail was her weakness, was that from her heritage or her other abilities._ Piccolo mulled over V's behavior, her abilities, they weren't like Goku's and Vegeta's. She didn't transform, but she did read minds, given the right circumstances she may even develop the ability to see into the future _or gain more Nemekian type abilities, regeneration perhaps_ Piccolo thought it might look a little ridiculous for someone like her to be able to regenerate an arm or a leg like he did but was there even a limit to the abilities she could develop? _Gohan and V, the beginning of the next generation of fighters_ Piccolo smirked _the future looks promising._ Piccolo felt a bit of pride at the knowledge that he had a hand in that. That Gohan and V would carry his style above everyone else's style of fighting no matter who else taught them. They were _his_ pupils, his students and nothing anyone did could change that or take that away from them. Piccolo ignored the realization that he had, at some point, singled them out as them. Gohan and V and himself. Piccolo focused on the triangle that the three od them formed. The presence of V somewhere in existence, the attachment of Gohan to her. He wondered what this would feel like when they existed on the same plane. Would they love in their own world within the world, would she grow outward and encompass the rest of her family and friends? Piccolo was entranced by his own ideas and thoughts but he was learning, he didn't leave himself completely open. King Kai approached, silent as ever.

"what do you want?" Piccolo griped

"Piccolo, there's more you should know." King Kai said seriously "when you get back to Earth, V will need someone to help her learn about herself, to understand what she is." King Kai peeked onto the planet Namek, he could see V among the bad guys, he even peeked into her memories to see who this Veltro boy was and when exactly she had gone to Namek. As far as King Kai could tell, V thought she was one hundred percent Saiyan, V had no idea of the power she truly held.

"she's already bonded with you, her kind does that, usually when they're born they bond with their parents as they grow but she grew up with Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta, people who didn't care if she lived or died."

"What makes you think I do?" Piccolo snapped at him. King Kai cocked his brow at Piccolo "because you two have bonded, you hold a similar place to where her father would have been had she grown up on her home planet."

 _Father?_ Piccolo thought, Piccolo had come to see Gohan and V as his pupils, his children almost, he hadn't imagined they returned the feelings, especially V. V who wanted so badly to be accepted into Goku's family that she'd die again and again just to prove herself. She didn't need to prove herself to him. she knew that, as annoying as that little brat was, being around her was easy, being around Gohan was easy.

"Gohan and V are bonded in a different way than you and V, you can sense them as if they were one person through V's bond to you." King Kai explained "Gohan and V, they're soul mates, a bonded pair, a matching set." King Kai said "whatever you want to use, they're two halves of a single soul, not reflections, not complementary, Piccolo, two halves, they need each other to be whole. It's why V didn't have a reason to fight before, she had the power but not the desire. Gohan is her fuse. For Gohan, V is his independence, together they're good. Apart, they have too much of each other and they can make poor decisions V's need to protect Gohan is a perfect example. They're a freshly bonded set, they'll want to protect each other to the death, they might not be aware of it but something inside them is telling them to risk everything to live together or die together."

"How can they each only have half a soul?" Piccolo scoffed at the ridiculous notion.

"most people are missing a portion of their soul." King Kai explained "most is maybe less than five percent." King Kai said "but on every planet there is a perfect match out there for each person, for people like Gohan and V the universe somehow makes sure they get together because if they don't, they're only ever half of themselves. Forever wandering through life wondering what is missing from it."

"what does this have to do with what V is?" Piccolo demanded.

"V's has a very strong mental presence, or haven't you noticed?" King Kai snickered. Piccolo grumbled under his breath

"I'm concerned that when V starts to struggle with her ever developing abilities, her presence will endanger Gohan's own feelings." King Kai said looking serious.

"Why don't you tell her father?" Piccolo griped.

"Goku may be the one who adopted her." King Kai said "but you're the first one that accepted her, she's connected to you whether you like it or not." King Kai smirked "and even though you're being a sour puss about it, you like that she challenges you in ways Gohan is too respectful to and ways no other creature has ever dared to do before." King Kai watched Piccolo's expression change ever so slightly "she challenges your very competence as a fighter."

"get to your point." Piccolo snapped finally giving up on his meditation, he set his feet on the ground and turned on King Kai.

"Goku won't be able to help V the way she needs help, you, as another telepathic being by nature and the one she bonded with first, are the only one that is going to be able to help her." King Kai smiled "the bonds her kind of people make are strong, she'd die for you, Piccolo, just as quickly as she'd die for Gohan and maybe even quicker than she'd die for Goku."

"What am I supposed to do?" Piccolo folded his arms and gave King Kai a condescending look "put her in time out?"

King Kai smirked "good one, Piccolo but it's actually much more painful than that." King Kai turned and started to walk away "I'll be back later to get you, I don't want the others to know, it'll only make them fear V."

"What are you talking about?" Piccolo growled after him but King Kai had given yet another cryptic message and left him to mull it over _what exactly are you, V?_

VELTRO

Veltro's senses came back gradually, even after V's first visit, even after the last week with these people threatening his home and his people, Veltro did not live waiting for the next disaster. Instead of panic, Veltro woke slowly, reaching outward for Dronare's energy, he was probably in the fields already. Wow, he had the most incredible dream, Veroca was there and she was here on Namek again but she brought people with her. Veltro sat up, he wasn't sure how he felt about this dream, he wasn't entirely sure it was good or bad.

"You're awake." Dronare placed a hand on Veltro's shoulder. Veltro's tail wrapped around his wrist without thought.

"What time is it?" Veltro rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry about this." Dronare touched the Veltro's neck, "but you wouldn't have come with me and you already caused enough of a scene." Dronare gave Veltro an apologetic look "you're still young, you're not used to these things, Veroca is." Dronare prodded Veltro's mind but Veltro was always slow to wake, slow to remember what was a dream and what was reality.

"Veroca _is_ here!" Veltro exclaimed "it wasn't a dream."

"No." Dronare said "I'm afraid none of this is."

"she had people with her." Veltro was still on trying to decipher fact from dream, maybe it was all a dream "she's really bonded with someone else then?" Veltro asked Dronare.

"Yes." Dronare said, he didn't want to watch Vltro be hurt all over again but now was not the time to coddle him. Dronare had done too much of that over the years and nowit was Dronare's fault that Veltro wasn't ready for this _or maybe I'm not ready for him to be ready_ Dronare thought thinking of what V said _he's more ready than you think_ V was much more confident than the last time he saw her, she was becoming increasingly aware of her abilities and more importantly, her purpose.

"where is she!" Veltro suddenly exclaimed leaping up from the ground "i-I got her killed didn't I, she had to save me and they found her and they killed her didn't they?" Veltro started to tear up.

"Veltro." Dronare placed a firm hand on Veltro's shoulder and pushed him back to the ground "calm down, I need you to be a warrior right now, we can still get her back, she knows what to do." Dronare softened a little "Veroca has been around these kinds of people her whole life, she knows how to survive long enough for me to figure out a plan."

"you?" Veltro asked

"yes, me," Dronare gave him a stern look "you're not ready for this, you have so much more to learn."

"but she's my friend." Veltro exclaimed.

"yes and she made me promise to keep you safe. She can survive on her own if you show up they can use you against her."

"But I can fight, I'm bigger and older and stronger than her." Veltro tried to sound tough, he wanted to fly into battle like V, strong and brave, he wanted to save his friends even if it meant his own life. Dronare felt Veltro's thoughts and emotions. V had this way of stirring up Veltro's inner turmoil. Dronare wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but it was something Veltro wasn't used to and that wasn't going to be good in the middle of a fight if he was too preoccupied with being a better friend than Gohan or trying to risk his own life just to save V when in reality V can handle it. But Veltro, while bigger than V, while seemingly older than V, Veltro was not like V, he was gentle, soft, a good and promising fighter but not a warrior, not yet at least.

"You will help to keep Dende safe, we'll go and find Veroca's friends but you will not be fighting the men she's with."

"But Dronare!" Veltro exclaimed.

"No." Dronare said firmly "you'll do what I tell you or you I'll send you off of this planet her her friends and we'll handle it."

"you… you want me to leave Veroca?" Veltro stared at Dronare as if he had just slapped him.

"in battle we need different people for different things." Dronare explained "I need you out of the fighting so that Veroca and I can focus on saving everyone and not worried about you."

"but I can fight!" Veltro tried to defend himself.

"but can you get hit?" Dronare challenged. Veltro hesitated. He remember the fight with Raditz too well. Raditz _enjoyed_ the pain he caused. That was the first and last time anyone had ever tried to hurt Veltro. Of course, Veltro was much stronger now, much bigger and better, he could take it this time.

"no." Dronare sighed feeling Veltro's inner pep talk "training and battle are different, you aren't stronger than these people, you're much weaker, much smaller and much easier to hurt, this conversation is finished, you'll stay with Dende." Dronare stood and allowed Veltro to climb to his feet, he did so tentatively.

"But you're gonna get her back…" Veltro asked in a small voice "right?"

"One way or another." Dronare said "I will get her back for you." Dronare didn't dislike V, he was rather fond of her, even entertained by her but if it weren't for the threat of Veltro running off on his own to save her, would he be risking his life to retrieve her?

Probably not, Dronare decided, his people would come first, the dragon balls would come first. V was not on his list of first things.

"Get ready, Veltro." Dronare ordered "we're leaving now."

V

V stayed at Frieza's side by his order, she could feel Zarbon's distaste for her. She also felt his annoyance when Dodoria took far too long to come back.

"he's dead." V said suddenly when she felt Vegeta's power level skyrocket and Dodoria's fade. "Vegeta killed him." V had caught a few glimpses of his energy before that but this was the most solidly she had felt it since Earth.

"how could you possibly know that?" Zarbon snapped at her, his eyes got big for half a second and he narrowed his eyes at her "you planned this didn't you?" Zarbon accused "you never killed any of them did you."

"I did!" V exclaimed _did I say I killed Vegeta?_ What if she did and now she said he was alive and had killed Dodoria _I'm so stupid!_ She screamed at herself.

"She didn't say she killed Vegeta?" Frieza sighed as if he were talking to a naïve child. "Really, Zarbon, Raditz and Nappa are dead but, Vegeta to be killed by her?" Frieza laughed "would be ridiculous."

"then why are you so interested in her?" Zarbon asked astonished.

"our little saiyan here just wanted to actually learn how to rule. She wasn't going to learn that from them."

"But, what about Dodoria?" Zarbon asked "how could she possibly know that?"

"Because she has telepathic abilities similar to the Namekians." Frieza smiled at V "don't you?" V nodded, she thought she'd better not lie again.

"I knew Raditz came here a few years ago, she couldn't have been more than a small toddler but you know what they say, children are sponges." Frieza smiled at V even wider "and her kind _love_ to absorb things."

"what?" V looked wide eyed at Frieza _what does he know about me?_ She wondered

"you didn't really think you got this strong all on your own did you?" Frieza laughed "did you think you were a saiyan too?" frieza watched V's face become more and more confused "oh, you poor child, you did!" Frieza laughed and laughed and laughed as V's anger began to boil.

"I can't really blame you, that's what those idiots thought too." Frieza cackled "never wondering why she didn't transform, why she seemed to get stronger when she never trained." Frieza shook his head "stealing their very power right from under their noses!" Frieza threw his head back "you are so much more than a simple monkey, V." Frieza finally calmed himself down, turning dark eyes on V "so much better." Frieza looked at V as if she were some kind of precious planet he was ready to take over.

"Don't worry, Child, I'll teach you how to be the very best you can be."

V watched as Frieza turned away from her and headed inside the ship to wait for whoever he just called to bring them new scouters. _I'm…not a saiyan?_ V thought to herself. Her stomach turned to knots as she processed this information _I can't transform_ V thought _I_ did _get stronger even when I wasn't allowed to train_ V's reality began to crumble _I stole their power. How could they not know? How could_ I _not know?_ V squeezed her hands together _I couldn't start to feel things until Namek, and then more until I was with Piccolo, he was always yelling at me for getting in his head_ V realized she hadn't been telepathic the whole time, it started on Namek, just feeling, fleeting powerful thoughts maybe, but when she spent that year with Piccolo it was like she could do more and more on her own with her mind. _What am I then?_

 _ **Thank you guys for all the comments and messages and for taking time to read my story, I'd really like to know what you're thinking about it though...**_

 _ **what do you think about**_

 _ **Gohan and V's Bond?**_

 _ **Veltro's Jealousy toward Gohan and V's relationship?**_

 _ **Veltro and Dronare as additional characters in this story?**_

 _ **will V stay with Veltro? Will she choose Gohan?**_

 _ **would Dronare even allow Veltro to go?**_

 _ **is Krillin ever going to trust V?**_

 _ **Piccolo's ever insistence that he is not interested in 'Goku's children'?**_

 _ **what do you think everyone is talking about,**_

 _ **V is a full saiyan... right?**_

 _ **and anything else you're thinking, want to comment or have thoughts on that I encourage you to share**_

 _ **and yes, I do intend to take this to the end of the Z saga, possibly to GT, we'll see... :)**_


	11. Chapter 11

Chichi placed a hand to her heart, there was something wrong, she could just feel it. She wasn't super powered like the other z-fighters, she wasn't super smart like Bulma but she was intuitive and in that moment she just knew, something was wrong, someone was in trouble _Gohan_ Chichi thought but that didn't feel right. Chichi looked toward the sky, V was _not_ her daughter, she was a brutal alien child who just looked a lot like Goku and Gohan.

"oh, stop worrying." Chichi snapped at herself as she continued to work on the dress V was going to wear for the next pageant. This one was going to be even more frilly, have an even bigger skirt, oh and butterfly sleeves.

"yeah, that's just what she needs, she won't always luck out by being the hero of the day." Chichi smiled to herself but there was still something wrong, not that she was going to pay it any mind.

Gohan

Gohan didn't understand it, he was not a fighter like his dad was, he never craved a battle, it was only ever to save someone else. Yet, as he let his mind wander toward thoughts of V, he wanted to fight, he wanted to be strong and fierce like V was and make people move out of his way with that look V always gave people when she was annoyed and wanted space. She never looked at him like that though.

"Hey, Gohan." Krillin waved his hand in front of Gohan's face "where'd you go, bud?" Krillin laughed

"I was just thinking about V." Gohan admitted, though he knew Krillin wouldn't like it.

"I don't think it's very healthy, the way you think of her so much and she's always hovering around you, like a moon to a planet." Krillin frowned.

"It's their bond." Dende sighed, why couldn't this Earthling just understand?

"how long have you been bonded?" Dende asked Gohan, Dende had always imagined what it would be like to be bonded like that. To have someone who knew everything about you, who fit with you like a puzzle piece.

"We just met about 2 years ago now." Gohan smiled at Dende, he was glad at least one of them understood what he was feeling.

"What's it feel like?" Dende asked excitedly, he'd never met anyone bonded like Gohan and V were.

"It feels like…" Gohan tried to put into words him and V "it feels like us." Gohan said "like we're-er-I'm never alone, like she's always here with me. I can almost… Gohan laughed at how ridiculous he was about to sound.

"what?" Dende leaned in, entranced by such a feeling, to never feel alone, to always have someone by your side.

"like I can hear her heart beating." Gohan shook his head "I don't know, it just feels like she's there."

"Wow…" Dende smiled "that's amazing."

"To you maybe." Krillin muttered getting more and more sour. He was, afterall, more family to Gohan than that girl was. He had known the kid's father for practically his whole life.

"Krillin." Gohan said looking at him "you don't have to like, V and me being bonded together, but you do have to live with it." Gohan wasn't so much angry or frustrated as he was tired of hearing it. More than anything he wanted everyone to understand what V felt like but that was only for him and her. "Even if it was possible to be un-bonded, I wouldn't do it."

 _Sorry, kid_ Krillin thought _but no one said it was your choice_ "yeah, I know." Krillin sighed and went back to staring out at the strange planet.

"So can you at least try to-" Gohan gasped and swayed on his feet. It wasn't from him, at least he didn't think it was _what am I_ Gohan wasn't sure if it was his thought. Although it couldn't be his if it had that much intensity to it,

"What wrong?" Krillin asked, although he was sure he knew.

"I think V's confused…" Gohan wasn't sure what to call it. That thought, what made someone think that that?

"About what?" Krillin had guessed where it came from but hadn't thought that was going to be the reason.

"I don't know?" Gohan shook his head. "herself?"

"Don't try to find the answer." Dende said "just let yourself feel it, for a newly bonded set it can be hard to figure out your partner's thoughts and feelings. You can't try to make it happen though." Dende instructed.

"Okay." Gohan nodded and sat in his meditative position that Piccolo had taught him. he just focused on his breath.

"you're not really trying to find her like that are you?" Krillin face palmed "how do you know you're not going to get her in trouble or distract her from a fight or something?"

"Shush." Dende hushed Krillin "he's trying to focus."

"yeah…" Krillin ground his teeth together and[GM1] balling his hands into fists. Krillin opened his mouth to say something, he hadn't even decided what yet when he caught Dronare and Veltro's energy signal.

"Dronare and Veltro are here?" Krillin announced but Gohan didn't move.

"Dronare." Dende rushed out of the cave in time to see Dronare land with a very unhappy Veltro. Krillin stepped out in time to see Dende rush over to the two.

"You guys okay?" Krillin asked. Dronare nodded "yes, thank you." Veltro muttered and frowned at the ground, Krillin wanted to laugh, how was it this kid looked just like any pouting kid on earth?

"Has Gohan spoken to Veroca at all?" Veltro hated to think about it, how Gohan could just talk to her, how he could just share his thoughts with her whenever he wanted.

"he said she's feeling confused right now." Krillin supplied. "he's in here." Krillin pointed in the cave, Veltro ran in.

"He wants to help save Veroca." Dronare sighed "but he's not ready to face something like that."

"I'm not so sure Gohan is either, but he won't leave her alone." Krillin shook his head.

"I imagine it's more difficult with their bond." Dronare smiled at Krillin, Earthlings could never understand something like that.

"She's just some girl that happen to fall into his life and now because the so call universe says they need each other, he believes it." Krillin huffed "he's not even trying to ignore it." Dende laughed "that's because you can't ignore it." Dende ran after Veltro, he wanted to see if Gohan got anything from V yet.

"You're expecting two lonely children to ignore their perfect halves?" Dronare asked Krillin.

"Gohan isn't lonely." Krillin countered. Dronare shook his head "he's a child, he needs other children to talk to, to be around."

"He's got me and his dad and mom and all our other friends." Krillin assured Dronare "he's even got Piccolo."

"All adults though?" Dronare asked again.

"He can be friends with Dende." Krillin said "or Veltro."

"What did she say!" Veltro's angry vice rang out from the cave. Krillin and Dronare looked at each other, Dronare gave Krillin a look that made Krillin realize how stupid the Veltro suggestion was.

"nothing." Gohna said "they're not so muc words as… feeling." Gohan decided "Really strong feelings."

"you're lying, she was my friend first." Veltro shook Gohan, Gohan refused to raise a hand against V's friend.

"Veltro." Dronare grabbed Veltro by the collar and yanked him away from Gohan. Gohan stumbled back a step but regained his balance immediately.

"he won't tell me what Veroca is saying." Veltro whined "I want to know too."

"Veltro." Dronare began "calm down." It was a stern command, one which Veltro really did try to obey but seeing Gohan close his eyes and knowing Gohan was probably talking to Veroca and he wasn't letting Veltro do it too just filled Veltro with an entirely new kind of anger.

"Veltro." Dronare snapped feeling Veltro's anger slosh around like a stormy sea.

"I'm sorry." Veltro bit out, Dronare felt that Veltro truly was sorry but he still wasn't in control of himself. Dronare really hated to do this but Veltro wasn't leaving him a choice. Dronare walked to the back of the cave and set Veltro on his feet facing the wall. "Stay here until you can keep yourself calm." Dronare ordered. Veltro didn't dare say another word.

"Did you just put him in time out?" Krillin gaped at the scene. Dronare looked at Krillin strangely "if that's what it's called on Earth." He said "I gave Veltro some space to calm himself down."

"Yep." Krillin nodded "sounds like a time out."

"Gohan," Dronare approached him "can you tell us what she's saying?"

"I don't know yet, I can just feel her and she's so confuse but…" Gohan was getting frustrated with himself "she just feels so much, it's hard to find out what she's feeling about what."

"She has a very strong mental presence." Dronare agreed. "you have to learn how to decifer her feelings even if she doesn't know how to."

"but how can I do that if she's not thinking what she's feeling?" Goh looked to Dronare as hif he had all the answers.

"I'm not sure if it's different with a bond as strong as the one you have with V but Namekians are all telepathic, I can show you how we do it, maybe that will help you with V."

"please, I want to help her." Gohan sounded desperate. Veltro couldn't help but feel bitter towards him. he was supposed to be her brother, he was even, supposedly, bonded with her and he couldn't figure out what she needed _if I was bonded with her I'd know exactly how to help her_.

 _Veltro_ Dronare snapped at him in his head _save your energy for more useful tasks._

 _Yes, Dronare._ Veltro tried to stop feeling so bitter, instead he tried to think of ways he could help V. _I should be bonded with V_ Veltro couldn't help the thought but at least it wasn't at the forefront of his mind.

"Now, Gohan." Dronare sat cross legged on the ground "you'll need to begin in a meditative state, do you know how to do that?"

"Piccolo taught me some but he was always more concerned teaching V that part, she was always the better fighter, I guess she needed more mental training than me."

"perhaps he sensed her abilities even if he didn't know exactly what he was sensing." Dronare mused. "Good, just like that." Dronare encouraged as Gohan settled into his meditation. Gohan deleved into his own inner being only to find V there. And then he saw Frieza, shock jolted Gohan from his meditation and made him jump to his feet.

"What's wrong?" Dronare hopped up with him thinking Gohan must have felt something coming their way.

"I-I saw Frieza." Gohan shivered "er…" he shook his head "I think V was seeing Frieza?" he said it more like a question, he wasn't sure anymore what was his and what was hers and for a split second, Gohan was afraid of that. V had been through things he couldn't imagine and he felt bead for her and he wanted to help her and make her feel better, but he didn't want those feelings.

"Breathe, Gohan." Dronare instructed, he didn't need his telepathy to know Gohan was beginning to understand the more difficult side of V's and his bond.

"See, I knew it." Krillin jumped on the opportunity "I knew she'd be too much for him."

"No." Gohan shook his head, his doubts dropped away immediately _we can do this together_ he thought to himself _nothing is different we just know what it's called now._

"Gohan, you just jumped out of your own brain because of her." Krillin tried to reason.

"No, Frieza scared me is all." Gohan explained "I just wasn't prepared; I'll be ready this time." Gohan turned back to Dronare "let's get to it."

V

V had the strongest sense of Gohan suddenly, fear was cold, a frozen sense in the recesses of her mind. V swayed slightly and bumped straight into Frieza.

"I'm sorry." V blurted immediately dropping to the floor and bowing to him. Frieza chuckled "there's nothing I love more than a Saiyan who knows her place."

"Please forgive me, I don't know what happened." V apologized, while she would do anything to save her friends and family, she wasn't particularly in the mood to get beat up on, especially by Frieza.

"you're lucky I've taken a liking to you, Veroca." Frieza walked on ahead and looked out through the huge window facing the sky, V was terrified of who he was waiting for.

"would you like to know what you are?" Frieza asked as if it were a casual thing to shatter her world the way he had.

"I…" _do I?_ V wasn't so sure, if she did then she wasn't a Saiyan anymore.

"You're not a Saiyan." Frieza said "not fully anyway."

"but I am some?" V asked.

"I don't know, nor do I care." Frieza snapped his tail against the ground impatiently "you've absorbed all of the best traits of a Saiyan and none of their flaws, you've even absorbed some of my power in this short time." Frieza wasn't entirely sure he was happy about that "you'll need to learn to control that."

"I don't know how I'm doing it." V said "I thought I was just a Saiyan, I thought I was getting stronger from all the fighting and getting hurt and getting better." V shook her head. Things were so much easier when she was just a Saiyan.

"figure it out." Frieza snapped "in the meantime, you'll stay with Zarbon."

"Me!" Zarbon exclaimed "won't she take my power too?" Zarbon glared at V, what a parasitic little child.

"I'm not doing it on purpose." V snapped although she almost wished she was because then she could take all their power.

"Don't be an idiot, Zarbon." Frieza rolled his eyes "she's not really taking it, her energy samples yours and duplicates the energy within her, if she learned how to control all that energy, she'd be quite the little warrior." Frieza gave V an evil look. V didn't want to be on this side of Frieza, not even a prisoner, but a weapon.

"not watch her and stop being a coward." Frieza snapped as he walked away, she didn't need any more of his power, she was already much stronger than she even knew how to access.

"I'm not parasite." V mumbled glaring up at Zarbon.

"What else steals life from someone else." Zarbon spit out bitterly flipping his hair. V looked out at the planet.

 _V, what's wrong_? V recognized the feeling of Gohan more so than his voice.

 _Nothing, go home._ V said, they never should have come here.

 _You can't do that, V, it's not fair._ Gohan felt angry, V wasn't used to the feeling from him. she shifted uncomfortably.

 _I can't protect you from Frieza._ V grit her teeth _he can't know who you are and he can't find you on this planet._

 _We can beat him together._ V could feel how much Gohan wanted to help but that didn't change anything.

 _No,_ V thought to him eyeing Zarbon, they couldn't even take Zarbon on. _We can't_ V swallowed her feelings and clenched her hands into fists _I don't know how to stop him_ V told Gohan _but I only know one way to keep you safe._ V trembled as the pressure built up inside her _go home, Gohan, go back to mom and dad._

 _Not without you_ Gohan said defiantly. V held the tears back as best she could, nothing had ever been so hard to do in her entire life. _Yes you are, goodbye Gohan_ V slammed up her walls, she left no cracks in her walls.

"ugh, you're not going to cry now are you?" Zarbon flipped his hair.

"No." V felt more alone in that moment than ever before. Having a taste was worse than not ever having it before.

"why don't you show me what you are good for." Zarbon flung his arm back, V ducked and his arm sailed right over her. Zarbon smirked, "not bad, you're fast but lets see what else you can do." V felt empty, she was just going through forms as Zarbon tried to hurt her.

GOHAN

Gohan yelled as he was thrown back. There was a finality to V's last words, he felt empty inside, alone despite the people around him.

"What happened?" Veltro grabbed Gohan by the scarf and dragged him off the ground. "what did you do?"

"she's gone." Gohan felt so hollow he wasn't sure how to feel, or even if he could feel.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Veltro yelled "She can't be, she's too strong, she's too brave." Veltro felt too much, he couldn't handle it again. He had never experienced the kind of hurt that he had suffered when she first left, he couldn't survive it again. "where is she." Veltro screamed, Dronare grabbed Veltro and locked him in his arms "Calm down, Veltro, you have to give him time."

"She just…" Gohan shook his head "she told me to go home and she did something. it felt like my mind just got hit by an energy blast." Gohan kept shaking his head "I can't feel her, I can't feel her thoughts anymore."

"she cut you out." Drone said

"why would she do that?" Gohan demanded trying to get used to this isolated feeling.

"she doesn't want you to find her." Dronare shook his head, he was almost angry, she couldn't just make this easy on him, let them find her so Veltro would stop trying to run after her. Just for a second, Dronare wanted to be angry at Gohan, Veroca had made her decision for Gohan and Gohan alone. Veltro had spent so much time trying to find a way to Veroca, trying to make sure she was okay and then when he had stopped he had gotten sad. So sad everything on the planet could feel his sorrow. But that wasn't Gohan's fault and it wasn't Veroca's fault that she had bonded with Gohan and not his son.

"Maybe you should listen to her." Dronare suggested "take Veltro with you, go back home to Earth."

"I can't leave her." Gohan whispered, Dronare got the vague notion of Gohan's sadness but V hadn't just closed him out of her mind, she had closed him inside himself.

"there is danger in being as strongly bonded as you and Veroca are." Dronare began

"you said that before." Krillin said placing a hand on Gohan's back. "what did she do to him?"

"she's doing it to protect him." Veltro said feeling Krillin's anger. He was always angry at Veroca.

"Yeah, well she's not doing a good job of it." Krillin quipped.

"I don't see that you're doing any better." Dronare finally let go of Veltro. Krillin and Dronare just looked at each other for a moment. Krillin wanted something to say to back, but Dronare was right. Drone dared Krillin to try and justify his animosity toward a child.

"This isn't helping Veroca." Veltro snapped suddenly.

"I'm taking Gohan home." Krillin announced "Veltro, Dronare, you're more than welcome to come with us."

"We can't leave!" Bulma finally chimed in "we have to get the dragon balls, our friends need us." Tears welled up in Bulma's eyes.

"Yeah, well we'll be joining them in Other World if we stay." Krillin reasoned. Dende, standing there, quietly observing, stepped toward Gohan "is there anything I can do to help?" Gohan just knelt there on the ground, his arms wrapped around his stomach and stared at the floor. "I-I hate this feeling." Gohan stammered "I want her with me." Gohan shivered. "we need to bring her back."

"You can't still think she's good!" Krillin yelled at him "she's hurting you, right now she's hurting you and you still want her back."

"She's only hurting me because she's trying to make me leave her, Krillin." Gohan winced, it was like there was something in him that kept trying to reach out for her and she kept swatching him away.

"You'll get over it once we get far enough away." Krillin assured him, to Krillin, there would be nothing better for Gohan than to get away from that alien.

"She's not your friend." Gohan pushed himself up "fine, but she's my family and I won't leave her here. if you won't help me…" Gohan pushed Krillin aside "I'll do it myself." Gohan ran out of the cave and took off.

"Gohan wait!" Krillin called after him but before he could fly Dende grabbed his arm "wait, you're not strong enough."

"Thanks kid, but I can't let him go off all alone." Krillin tried to nudge Dende off but he held tight. "no, I know someone who can make you stronger."

"I don't have time to train, I need to go now." Krillin shook him a little harder.

"Guru can make you strong right now." Dende shouted at him trying to get him to listen. Dende wondered if all humans were so stubborn.

"what?" Krillin stopped trying to get away from Dende "why didn't you say that."

"I was trying to." Dende sighed "I can take you to him, but we have to leave now."

"You can't just take strangers to Guru, Dende." Dronare chastised meeting them outside.

"this is an emergency, Dronare. Besides Nail is there and he'll decide if Krillin gets to meet Guru or not."

Dronare considered Dende, it was an emergency, they didn't have the time to play with. "okay, but lets go now."

VELTRO

Veltro watched Dende and Dronare talk as he snuck out the back of the cave _I won't loose you again, Veroca._

Veltro caught up to Gohan relatively quickly, he was definitely no Veroca when it came to speed. Veltro smirked at Gohan when he finally realized that Veltro was behind him.

"She's my friend too." Veltro said. Gohan smiled "but she's my sister."

"she never chose who she was going to stay with." Veltro pointed out "the only reason she left me last time was because she wanted to protect me, she picked me first." Gohan sighed "fine, she still gets to pick, but we need to save her first."

"Don't worry, I'll save her." Veltro said. Gohan was not usually one to brag but Veltro might have been her friend and she might have met him first but V was his sister and his family and she was coming home with him.

"You can't even feel her anymore." Veltro had been raised better than to take such a cheap shot but Dronare didn't really care about Veroca, she wasn't his first priority and besides, it was true. Veroca probably sent Gohan away because she was going to have to tell him later that she was going to stay on Namek with him.

Gohan didn't like the smug look on Veltro's face. The _universe_ bonded them for a reason, Gohan didn't really know why, all he knew was he had never felt happier than when she was a constant precense in his head.

Five space pods tore through the sky, the energy coming from them made Gohan and Veltro had never felt such immense power before, it was nothing like Vegeta's. It was evil and so big, his dad surely didn't stand a chance against even one of them, let alone five.

"We have to get to Veroca before they do." Veltro darted ahead. Gohan swallowed hard and followed after him.

PICCOLO

Something was wrong, Piccolo felt it like a fist through his stomach. He glance around, something this powerful had to be close. Glancing around Piccolo couldn't find a single thing except for that annoying blue creature that insisted on pestering him worse than V ever did.

"you okay, Piccolo?" King Kai seemed to like to ask questions he already knew the answer to.

"Somethings wrong." He admitted giving into the Kai "I don't know what or where, but something is very wrong."

"You felt V try to sever the bond." King Kai informed him "she could kill herself and Gohan of she keeps trying.

"What are you talking about, V would never hurt Gohan, she'd give her life first." Piccolo didn't believe V was even capable of hurting Gohan, the two were meant for each other.

"she doesn't know what she's doing, there's no one to teach her how to control it or to even tell her what it is."

"you said she knew she was bonded with him, one of the locals told her." Piccolo growled.

"she know's that she and Gohan are connected, yes." King Kai clarified "but she doesn't understand to what degree or even what kind…" King Kai trailed off and smirked "and it seems she's bonded with more than one person."

"how is that possible?" Piccolo growled "I'm tired of your games old man. If you need to tell her something then talk to her yourself."

"I've already tried that." King Kai said "she's blocking me."

"How, she doesn't even know who you are." Piccolo wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off the Kai's face but he wasn't strong enough, not yet.

"when she blocked Gohan she blocked everything, no one can get into her head until she lets Gohan back in." King Kai explained.

"So what is it you want me to do about it?" Piccolo rolled his eyes "I'm a little stuck at the moment if you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, I've noticed." King Kai snickered "but you may still be able to reach her, just give it a try and if you're able to, like I think you are, tell her to be careful, let Gohan back in and if she gets the chance, she should get off that planet."

"and the dragon balls?" Piccolo asked "what about those, they're the whole reason she and Gohan risked their lives to begin with."

"I'm sorry Piccolo, but unless you want them to meet you here, they have to leave. With any luck Frieza won't follow them." King Kai turned and left Piccolo with the news.

 _V and Gohan are stronger than that._ Piccolo thought _they can beat this guy_ Piccolo settled back into his meditation _unless they can't._


	12. Chapter 12

Super sorry this has been on hold for so long. i had a major case of writer's block as well as deciding what i wanted to reveal about V in this saga and what i wanted to wait on, so without further ado lets find out what will happen on this episode of Dragon Ball V

GOKU

Goku cupped his hands to his side "Ka- Me…" Goku planted his feet and lowered into a squat. "Ha-Me…" the energy swelled and a blue orb formed in his hands "HA!" the blast flew out from Goku's hands, he guided the blast around the ship and tensed up as he readied to take the full force of the attack. The blast stuck him but he remained planted, "yeah, that's how you do it." Goku smiled and his legs trembled and he lurched forward. His body slammed into the ground "oh, man, I really put a lot into that one." He laughed "guess it's time for another senzu bean." Goku inched his body across the floor like a worm. The aches pinched and stung, they demanded him to give up, his body was already ready to give up before he was. "come on body, we can make it." Goku coaxed. His body moved at his command. It might have been ready to give up first but it was easy enough to persuade.

The senzu bean did it's job, he was back to full health just as he caught an incoming energy, no, several energies. Goku felt out for them, five of them. Goku went to the window in time to see five space pods streak across the stars. _Man, those were some powerful guys_ Goku thought watching the spacepods disappear. _Oh man, I don't like that energy either, something tells me they're not there for the local cuisine._ Goku ran to his controls "come on, there has to be a way to make it go faster." Goku scrambled over the control but nothing happened. He was still traveling the same speed and not going half as fast as those guys.

 _Just hold on guys_ Goku tried to will the message to them _I'm almost there._ As if Goku's will had summoned it, the ships voice came on _"ten hours to arrival"_

"please guys, just for a little while longer."

Goku secured the remaining beans up and went to lay down for a few hours. Something told him this was going to be get worse before it got better.

V

Frieza strode into the room, his tail whipping behind him dangerously. "Zarbon." He was angry, V fell back into the wall trying to get as far away from him as possible.

"What's wrong?" Zarbon stood at attention immediately.

"Vegeta has been a busy boy." Frieza frowned.

"Vegeta?" Zarbon asked.

"yes, as Veroca said, Vegeta killed Dodoria." Frieza looked to V and smiled "now's your chance for revenge, find him and get the Dragonball he stole. And once you've done that, kill him if you'd like." Frieza turned back to Zarbon "make sure you get the job done." Frieza snapped his tail against the floor before exiting.

"ugh, I have to babysit you now." Zarbon took off "try and keep up." He smirked at her but V took off right behind him, she caught up to him easy enough.

"Huh…" Zarbon was surprised to find her right beside him, not that he had maxed out on his speed or anything like that but he was going faster than most kept up with. _Perhaps she's not as weak as she seems… or maybe she's stealing my power right now._ Zarbon glared at V _I'd better not give her anymore_.

V frowned at Zarbon, she got the sense he was blaming her for something, but what? It's not like she did anything. _Why do they hate me_? V grumbled to herself. Krillin hated her, Chichi still hated her, most of Gohan's and their dad's friends hated her. Actually, all of them hated her except Piccolo. _What did I do?_

"Well, if you're so smart." Zarbon snorted at V "where is he?"

"I don't know, I have to have a stronger sense of his energy first." V pouted crossing her arms.

"well, get a better sense on it." Zarbon snapped.

"It doesn't work like that." V barked "he has to power up enough for me to feel him." V shook her head, how did they ever get by before sensing energy?

"did you absorb that power from the scouters?" Zarbon spat at her.

"No, I learned it on Earth." V glared at Zarbon "and I didn't do anything for you to hate me so stop it."

"I don't need a reason to hate anyone, least of all a creature like you." Zarbon flipped his braid and continued, he would not answer to this child. He did not need to answer to this child and despite her unnerving ability to read him, he would not let her get to him. He was Frieza's right hand man and she was lucky to have been allowed to live.

"Can't you feel him yet?" Zarbon grouched. V grumbled to herself but she wasn't going to push her luck. Zarbon was stronger than her and she needed to make sure they thought she was on their side, or at least too afraid to join the other side. On this side, she might be able to protect the other's better, buy them time to escape or at least for dad to get there and take the others home. V briefly wondered if Veltro would go with them, it would be safer for him on Earth, with the rest of her family that hadn't quite liked her. _Veltro_ thinking of Veltro made her hurt in ways she could never quite name. It wasn't as bad as the hollow feeling that had set in since pushing Gohan away but she could ignore that long enough to make sure he was safe.

"Hey!" Zarbon grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her forward "can you 'feel' him yet or not?" he rolled his eyes, He did not believe that she could feel them.

"No not-" V stopped short, "there's something…" V pushed Zarbon away and hovered toward the energy "That's him." V said certainly "that way." V took off toward the energy, Zarbon trailed behind, he refused to go any faster _maybe she is faster than me_ the thought annoyed Zarbon _or maybe she stole more power from Freiza than he realized_ Zarbon watched V suspiciously.

"I'm finding him!" V snapped, for the first time V realized she was back to sensing feeling rather than catching stray thoughts. She couldn't say she didn't prefer this to the thoughts she had gotten used to hearing, especially from Krillin. They were never complete thoughts just all the worst parts of what he thought of her when he saw her.

"Are we almost there?" Zarbon demanded.

"up ahead." V nodded ignoring his tone.

V caught sight of Vegeta before Zarbon did, V guessed she should feel bad for him. Zarbon was so much stronger than him, Zarbon could kill Vegeta with ease. He dad, Goku, he would say she should try to help him. He would teach V to be better but looking into herself, she couldn't find anything. There was nothing left but a gaping hole and a single mission in her.

"there." V pointed Vegeta out as he stood in the middle of a small island and looked satisfied with himself. _Dad will be so disappointed_ even that thought wasn't enough to make V feel. _Keep Gohan safe_ the thought became a chant as she landed behind Vegeta.

"Are you stupid?" V demanded of Vegeta. Vegeta turned with a smile on his face "I felt you coming." He smirked "what happened to your new friends?" he mocked her "they realize how worthless you are?" he threw his head back and laughed, the comment didn't even sting, Vegeta had always been able to get to her but it was like she was a machine.

"wasn't so worthless when we beat you on Earth." V looked Vegeta in the eye as she spoke, this was a new kind of feeling for V. It was somewhere between numb and cruel and V was completely aware of it.

"I see you've brought my pet back to me." Vegeta looked past V to Zarbon. "Thanks, but you can keep it."

"On the contrary." Zarbon landed between Vegeta and V with a smirk on his face "I'm here to find a pet and return _him_ to his owner."

"you see…" Vegeta stepped out getting ready to fight "I'm not his pet anymore and I take orders from no one."

"Frieza will be sorry to hear that but you'll be easy enough to replace." Zarbon flipped his braid "tell you what, I'm in a hurry to get away from your little pet. Just hand over the dragon ball and I'll let you go."

Vegeta chuckled "I'm feeling generous today." Vegeta fisted one hand on his hip and jabbed a finger at Zarbon "bring me the dragon balls you've already collected and I won't kill you."

Zarbon just looked at Vegeta "you can't possibly be serious." Zarbon finally said. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or beat that smug look off this stupid Saiyan's face.

"Oh, I'm serious alright." Vegeta had on his confidence and suddenly V wasn't sure what he had planned. Vegeta was cocky and arrogant but he wasn't stupid. V felt out his energy, on the surface it was the same as it always was but she sensed more inside him. V swallowed hard but held her ground. _there's no way that he could have gotten stronger than Zarbon_ V shivered because he must have if he was openly disobeying Frieza now, he must have gotten fifteen times stronger than the last time she'd seen him on Earth. _Oh man… this isn't good._

"Vegeta, you and I both know Frieza's always favored you." Zarbon smiled regaining his composure "and you and I both know Frieza only lets so much slip, so let's be smart about this."

"You're absolutely right." Vegeta said, V knew everyone one of Vegeta's expressions and when he smiled at that moment V knew what he was going to do.

Vegeta took no time disappearing, V felt his energy surge through the air toward them and moved back as Vegeta's fist made contact with Zarbon's face. Zarbon stumbled back several steps and turned angry eyes on Vegeta "I tried to be nice about this." Zarbon growled "but I wouldn't expect anything less from a stupid monkey."

"Why don't you say that a little closer." Vegeta challenged "I couldn't hear you over my fist in your mouth." He threw his head back and laughed.

"you're going to regret this, Vegeta." Zarbon lunged at Vegeta and slammed his leg into Vegeta's stomach, or that's what was supposed to happen. Zarbon's leg was caught in Vegeta's hands. Vegeta just smiled as Zarbon's eyes widened "b-but how…"

"Like this." Vegeta flung Zarbon into the air and threw a barrage of energy blasts at him. V slipped away from the fight, this was not a fight she could win, they were both on an entire other level than her. The best V could hope for was that on would be taken out and the other too tired to fight her. V wouldn't hesitate to kill Vegeta again.

GOHAN

Gohan shivered as the energy washed over him, for a second he felt it not only through his own ability to sense but through V's as well. Gohan grabbed his head and hovered toward the ground. The ground came up faster than he anticipated and his legs buckled as he connected with it.

"What are you doing." Veltro grumbled impatiently.

"I feel her…" Gohan felt woozy form the double exposure of senses.

"You do!" Veltro dropped to his knees and grabbed Gohan "where is she, tell her to tell us where she is."

"Not… I can't…" Gohan tried to center himself as the energies faded and he was left with his own senses again. "not like that." Gohan finally got out as Veltro held his breath.

"What do you mean not like that?" Veltro snapped.

"I mean, I just felt what she was feeling, Vegeta is fighting someone and they both have incredible power levels." Gohan gave himself one last shake before pushing himself to his feet. "come on, I can still feel Vegeta's power, if we find him we'll find V."

"I'll find Veroca." Veltro took off ahead a Gohan. Gohan sighed _I know who you're gonna pick V_ Gohan thought confidently _and nothing Veltro or I do is going to change your mind._ Gohan closed his eyes, the link was there, it was like a gold string reaching through the planet straight toward V, or it would have been had it not been for that giant black spot blocking the rest of the string. Gohan slipped into a half meditative state and nudged at the wall _come on V, let me in_ Gohan pulled and pushed and clawed at the spot but it was solid, no one was getting in there unless V wanted them to. _I have to try_ Gohan thought leaving it alone for now, he took to the sky just behind Veltro.

"You mind as well go back with your friends." Veltro said between their tense silence "I'll save Veroca by myself and she'll stay here with me."

"Veltro, us arguing isn't going to change her decision." Gohan said reasonably, he wanted to argue with Veltro or maybe that was just a part of V still lingering in him. Either way, his mother's strict upbringing kept him from getting too mouthy with Veltro.

"And I really don't think Dronare raised you like this either." Gohan pointed out.

"you don't know anything about Dronare." Veltro snapped "he raised me to fight for the people I love and that's what I'm doing."

"and what if I love her too?" Gohan asked. Veltro hesitated, he hadn't actually thought about it like that.

"Then I guess it's who she loves more." Veltro said stubbornly "and that's me because I've known her longer so she had more time to love me more."

"Veltro…" Gohan started feeling bad for him. "that's not fair to do that to V, you know."

"Then what is fair!" Veltro yelled whirling around on Gohan. "She met me first, she was never even supposed to meet you, she was supposed to stay here and be my family and we were going to be best friends." Tears shone in Veltro's eyes "you already have a family." Veltro refused to cry in front of Gohan "and they're all like you, you've never had to be the different one."

"Veltro…" Gohan wasn't sure what to say,

"you don't have to explain to the younger Namekians why you don't look like them."

"But I thought Namekians were all nice." Gohan said _except Piccolo_ Gohan added in his head.

"when they get older yeah, when they learn to be nice." Veltro crossed his arms "when you don't grow as fast as them and the ones that used to be smaller than you are all grown up and you're still a kid." Anger boiled inside Veltro.

"Let's just go get Veroca." Veltro bolted ahead leaving behind the insecurities he had never voiced out loud before.

"Right…" Gohan chased after him _oh no_ Gohan thought _he's gonna be so sad when V comes home with me_ Gohan truly felt bad for Veltro but regardless of either of them, V was going to pick the one she wanted and Gohan knew she wanted to be home on Earth with Piccolo and mom and dad and him.

Veltro couldn't help but feel angry at Gohan because he had seen how Veroca and Gohan were together. Like magnets, like two pieces of a puzzle. _But I was here first_ he thought stubbornly _and that matters more_. Veltro knew Dronare would scold him for it but he was glad Veroca cut Gohan off, she's be able to remember how Veltro was the one to care for her first.

V

V huddled between two boulders trying to stay clear of the battle field. V knew who was going to win this fight but he wasn't winning it as fast as she wanted him to.

"Just transform." V yelled to Zarbon, she didn't like either of them but Vegeta had done more to her directly than Zarbon had. _Dad wouldn't like that_ a part of her mind whispered but she couldn't bring herself to care. Gohan was cut off from her now, Veltro was mad at her and Piccolo was dead and if Goku got here in the middle of everything, he'd be dead too, _again._

"She's right." Vegeta stopped fighting, blood trailed from his mouth but he was still smiling. V wanted to know where he got so much confidence. Why, after all this time, before he even had his wish of immortality, he had gained so much confidence.

"I know Frieza's dirty little secret." Vegeta said "I know he's afraid of the Saiyans, I know he's afraid of me."

"Don't flatter yourself." Zarbon scoffed "the only thing Frieza feared was the entire race of Saiyans finding enough intelligence in their tiny brains to rise against him at once." Zarbon's energy swirled as he powered up in preparation for his transformation. "A single Saiyan poses no threat, the only thing you're good for is running Frieza's errands for him. But if you insist on being reminded of your place." Zarbon's energy pulsed and concentrated, V sunk lower to the ground as Zarbon's energy grew. Zarbon let out a yell and one last pulse of energy flew over the ground shoving V back into the boulder. Vegeta stood his ground and where the vain Zarbon once stood was a misshapen monster.

"You know how I hate to use this form." Zarbon growled "now you're going to pay." Zarbon tore through the air slammed Vegeta into the ground, before Vegeta even had the chance to figure out what happened Zarbon grabbed him from the ground and through him into the air chasing him with a barrage of energy blasts.

"No!" Vegeta screamed "I am the best, I am the strongest." Vegeta finally righted himself and threw blast after blast at Zarbon. Zarbon easily brushed them aside.

 _V, please let me in_ V felt her defenses being prodded it, she felt Gohan slipping into her mind, because even as closed off as she was her mind wanted that connection. It hungered for it.

 _You'll get hurt, stay away from me_! V snapped

 _Let… me …in…_ Gohan's voice was desperate in her head as he struggled against her walls, she struggled with her own desire to let him in. Never before had she ever felt so connected to someone. She had been so happy connected to Gohan the way they were. It would be easy to let him back in, easy as breathing, easy as being… Shook the thoughts away and slammed her walls back up _It's for your own good!_ V threw the though at him ahead of her reinforced walls.

"No, it's no possible, it's… not… possible." Vegeta climbed out of the water and grabbed a handful of dirt. He punched the ground, V felt his waning energy, he wouldn't last even a minute longer.

"You've brought this on yourself, you know?" Zarbon let his energy fall and he returned to his previous state, not even a hair out of place.

"No, I'm the prince of all Saiyans." Vegeta's energy was already low, he should have been passed out already but he was Vegeta after all, he might not have been stronger than Zarbon but he was still stubborn. V huffed and waited for him to lose consciousness.

"nighty night, little prince." Zarbon Kicked Vegeta in the face and finally Vegeta lay there.

"You didn't ask him where the dragon ball was." V says floating over to Zarbon.

"I'll ask him when he wakes up, I didn't kill him." Zarbon rolled his eyes and cast a glare at V "not that it has anything to do with you, parasite."

"I told you already, I'm not a parasite." V growled getting angry at Zarbon.

"What difference does it make." Zarbon grabbed Vegeta and slung him over his shoulder "it's not like you matter anyway, you're Frieza's new toy, once he's grown bored of you he'll send me to take care of you, just like with Vegeta." Zarbon took to the sky, V followed him. She could understand this rage that was filling her all of a sudden, it seemed she had gotten more used to Gohan's presence in her mind more than she realized . Gohan was always so calm and happy it always kept V level. Kept her from getting to angry too fast and now she didn't have that anymore. Now it was worse than before because now she had to keep herself from something that was clearly predestined. She and Gohan were meant to meet, they were some kind of half of each other and V liked that, at first, before she realized it could hurt Gohan. This was better, he could go back to Earth, he didn't need her.

Vegeta was in the healing chambers, Zarbon was smug, Frieza would be back soon to check on everything and shortly after that Frieza's favorite team would be here, but none of that was the cause of the itch growing more and more unbearable inside her. V felt restless and agitated, Zarbon had gotten away from her the second he got the chance and so she was alone. Alone like before. Alone like she would always be. The universe gave her someone to keep with her always and she couldn't even do that right.

"Someone's restless." Frieza commented. V froze and stood at attention the second she heard his voice, although she scolded herself for not feeling out his energy before. She should have been tracking him the whole time, figured out what he was up to, where he was going.

"Sorry, Frieza." V didn't know what else to say. Frieza chuckled, he knew she was afraid of him, although he had no idea that it didn't actually have anything to do him hurting her but him hurting Gohan or Goku.

"If only Vegeta had the intelligence to fear me as you do." Frieza mused mostly to himself. V did notice Frieza taking extra steps away from her. Keeping his energy low not showing off too much. It occurred to V that Frieza might not be afraid of a single Saiyan but he was afraid of her, whatever she was. He didn't want her to sample his power and use it against him. _I wonder if I can do more than sample his power_ V thought to herself _I wonder if I can take it._ V reached out toward Frieza. She felt his energy easy enough but she couldn't figure out how to grab it. Frieza said that she sampled energy naturally, he said she had to turn it off somehow so there must be a way to control it.

"Lord Frieza…" V ventured, the worst he could do to her was kill her, V was confident that he wouldn't kill her but he might hurt her just for the fun of it. V was fine with that, used to it. If she could jut keep Frieza from hurting Gohan then she didn't care what happened to her.

"What?" he titled his head toward her but didn't quite look at her. "how do I control my…" V wasn't completely sure what to call this power she hadn't realized she had. "sampling power." V figured it was the better than nothing.

"we'll have to find a more experienced Kyu Shim and have him teach you, I can't have you sampling everybody powers, it's rude." Frieza said "in the meantime keep your distance." Frieza went back to staring out of the ship. V knew he was waiting for his elite to arrive. If V really wanted to get on Frieza's good side she could have tracked them for Frieza, told him about how good at sensing she was, how she could feel his elites were two hours and thirty-seven minutes away and how Vegeta was healing faster than they were anticipating and the only person watching him was a low-level healing chamber technician. V could have told him all of that and shown that she was on his side but that was extra information, that wasn't information he was ever going to discover she knew.

"Conquering planets is an art, you know?" Frieza asked V "it takes a certain kind of person to completely disregard the lives of the people of any given planet and really _take_ the planet. Not just enslave it's inhabitant but to completely annihilate them without batting an eye." Frieza smiled proudly.

"Killing is an art?" V asked trying to pretend to be interested. V didn't really care, she didn't care about ruling a planet or protecting one. All she cared is Gohan was okay and happy and if he was then everything else didn't matter. Gohan was okay right now but he wasn't happy, not without dad and not without Piccolo and not without their link intact. V wanted to be a hero like Goku was, V wanted to get all the dragon balls and save everyone but she wasn't strong enough, she wasn't good enough.

"V." Frieza snapped "get a hold of yourself before I get ahold of you." V froze her energy had been expanding, she felt her energy pointing toward Frieza, prodding around him _sampling him_ V recoiled from the thought, her energy snapped back around her and she felt it, the most spine chilling energy she had ever felt slipping into her own. V tried to push the energy back toward him but that only made it cling to her more. Frieza's energy morphed into her own. V shivered but couldn't fight it anymore.

"I-I'm sorry, Lord Frieza." V stammered catching the annoyance on his face. "I don't know how I'm doing it."

Frieza considered her for a moment. "you weren't just taking my energy, you know." Frieza's smile was cold as he measured her with his eyes "you take my personality too."

"What?" V asked fear creeping into her, Gohan's energy leaked in through with her own doubt.

"you don't just learn from watching, you don't just get stronger when you sample energy. You take core personality traits as well."

"But that'll make me…" V trailed off unable to get out the words because then it was real.

"Just like me." Frieza laughed at V's face, what a stupid child, what an ignorant monkey.

 _But I can't be…_ V thought _They'll never take me back, Krillin will have been right._

 _"_ _V, let me in."_ Piccolo's voice was faint but V heard it, she wanted to let him in but if she did all her walls would come down. Using the energy, she had copied from Frieza V reinforced her walls. This felt even worse, using Frieza's energy felt terrible. V swallowed hard and focused that energy away from her, she didn't want it to be a part of her.

PICCOLO

"Gah!" Piccolo was thrown to the ground right out of his mediation, he shivered and gaped at the empty planet. "What was that?" Piccolo panted.

"you got ahold of V?" King kai asked but it wasn't really a question. Piccolo shook his head "how… what… that wasn't V but it…" Piccolo could barely gather his own thoughts let alone figure out where that terrible energy had come from.

"Something must be controlling her, that energy, that was evil." Piccolo pushed himself to his feet.

"That was Frieza's energy." King Kai sighed "she can't control her own powers, the more anxious she feels from cutting herself off from Gohan the more her mind and her energy will look for him and when it can't find him it samples everything around her. If she were standing next to you or Goku she's take on your powers, your personalities but she's Frieza's new pet and slowly she'll take on his persona."

"V is not evil." Piccolo snapped.

"She's not but her kind doesn't distinguish between good and evil when they're as young as she is, she hasn't chosen a side yet. So her power will sample anything and everything."

"But she wasn't evil before, she only spent time with those Saiyans, why is it affecting her so much now?"

"Because of her bond with Gohan, when her kind gets a taste of something they like and she tries to cut it off it'll just search elsewhere for it. Her bond with Gohan was solely to Gohan, if he were bad or good, it didn't matter, she'd side with him no matter what. She never picked being good. At least not fully."

"What do you mean 'fully'?" Piccolo asked. King Kai sighed "when V first went to Namek she met Veltro, her first bond, not the kind of bond she shares with Gohan but enough of a bond that she decided she wanted to be like him. Her energy liked his energy, she even chose him over herself. Little steps like that put her on the path of good but her bond with Gohan nulls anything she does for him as a sign of good. Until she figures out exactly what she has to do to stop absorbing everything she's around, she's not good or bad."

"She's just a kid." Piccolo grumbled "she wants to be good, everything she's done is for good."

"No." King Kai shook his head "everything she's done has been for Gohan."

"This is ridiculous, she's trying do good but the good she's doing is putting her with evil people that she keeps absorbing traits from and that's going to make her evil like them!" Piccolo threw his hands up "you've got to be kidding me!" Piccolo punched the wall "damn it, V, do something for yourself for once!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Trying to get back into the weekly Saturday uploads but school and work had been brutal. without further adooooooo. chapter 13 Also please take a look at the poll I have up. It's my first Poll so it think it should be on my profile. but please cast a vote. thanks :D**

...

Gohan

"Somethings wrong." Gohan was getting light headed suddenly "something's wrong with V." Gohan stumbled against a boulder. He pressed his hand against it to keep himself up right.

"What's happening?" Veltro flew up to Gohan's face giving him no breathing space. Gohan didn't care though, he just shook his head "there's this cold… evil energy surrounding V, it pushed me away and I think… I think Piccolo was trying to talk to her because I could have sworn I felt his energy."

"Piccolo, that's the Namekian that trained you guys, right?" Veltro asked. Gohan nodded "yeah, V is really close to him."

"Is someone trying to control her?" Veltro asked, he hadn't ever met someone who could control someone's mind but Frieza seemed like the kind of guy that might have that power.

"No, she was pushing me away again and then I felt Piccolo's energy and then there was this rush of that energy and it wrapped around V and I couldn't get back in, even getting close to it felt awful." Gohan shivered and guilt pressed against him _I ran away and I left V with that thing_ Gohan closed his eyes. Veltro shoved Gohan "you left her?" Veltro demanded echoing Gohan's own guilt.

"I-I didn't mean to." Gohan stuttered hating himself for his own cowardice.

"You didn't mean to but you did, you did because you care about yourself more than you care about Veroca."

"V is the strong one!" Gohan yelled at Veltro "she's the one that makes me brave, without her I'm just… I'm just me."

"Well you're going to have to be brave for yourself because Veroca isn't here to do it for you." Veltro snapped "If you're really bonded like Dronare says you are then you can find her and nothing in the _universe_ can keep you guys a part." Veltro's voice was rising he should have been bonded with Veroca but he wasn't, not like Gohan was but Veltro refused to believe that Gohan cared for Veroca more than he did.

"I can't find her, she closed me out," Gohan shook his head "she's stronger than me, she's _too_ strong."

"You can share her strength but you have to get close and you have to let her energy wash over you, you can't fight it, you can't resist it. Not matter what it feels like you have to let her power mix with yours and then you can use her power." Veltro instructed.

"Won't that take power from her?" Gohan asked concerned about how it would affect V. Veltro shook his head "you're still thinking that you're two different people. While you're physically two different people you only have one soul, that soul is only complete with her. Don't push against her defenses, embrace them, let them into you."

" _How_?" Gohan asked frustrated, if only his dad were here, he'd fix everything.

"I can't tell you how, I'm not the one bonded with her." Veltro could help the bitterness in his voice but he didn't really care if Gohan heard it, all he cared about right then was Veroca, if they could make Veroca okay then everything would be okay. Veltro nodded to himself affirming his own thoughts. _Veroca is good and I'm gonna make sure everyone sees it._ Veltro thought determinedly.

Gohan couldn't figure out why he felt so isolated, he felt weak and afraid, even more so than ever before. _Is it because I borrowed V's courage or did she do something else when she pushed me away?_ Gohan wondered, he wished he could just get V to talk to him. _I know you're doing this to protect me, V, but you're just making this harder._

"Get up, we have to go." Veltro grabbed Gohan and dragged him a few steps before Gohan caught his footing and followed.

"you really care about, V." Gohan finally admitted.

"I care about her more than anything." Veltro nodded. "she was my first friend…" Veltro looked at Gohan "Veroca was like me, she was raised by people she didn't fit in with, but at least I knew they cared for me, it wasn't their fault I didn't fit in." Veltro felt a wave of sadness for Veroca "she didn't have anyone, she was so sad when I first saw her, she was so sad and she didn't know she was sad." Veltro felt tears stinging his eyes "we were friends and she only left to protect me and she was supposed to come back but you ruined it." Veltro clenched his hands into fists. "the least you can do is care about her as much as she cares about you."

"I didn't know…" Gohan admitted "that you two were so close."

"She didn't stay long but I've thought about her every day since she left." Veltro looked at the ground, he had always imagined he would be the one to travel across the galaxies looking for Veroca, that he would be the one that found her and brought her back home. He never thought she'd find a new home. A new family… a new best friend. Veltro swallowed hard "it doesn't matter, nothing matters except finding Veroca and bringing her back home… no matter where that is."

Gohan watched Veltro. There was pain there, there was regret in his features. They didn't really get along but they had V in common and that was all that mattered. They both wanted V back. "let's bring her home." Gohan agreed.

"you have to get a feel for her." Veltro instructed. Living with the Namekians he had learned a thing or two about telepathic bonds, like the one he shared with Dronare. Veltro himself was not telepathic but he could talk to Dronare whenever he needed to, or keep him at bay like he was doing now.

"I can do it." Gohan thought firmly. V would never give up on him, no matter how far he was, he had to do the same, he couldn't rely on Piccolo or his dad to help him, he couldn't rely on V's influence, he had to do it himself.

Krillin

Are we almost there?" Krillin asked as he trailed after Dende, they had been flying for hours.

"yes, almost." Dende assured him "we have to stay at this speed though." Dende cautioned "if they find Guru they'll kill him and every Namek on the planet."

"Uhu, not to be insensitive, kid, but I think Frieza's already doing that." Krillin looked at the empty planet, he tried to feel for energies but there were so few and none even near to what he felt from Frieza, not even Vegeta felt anywhere near Frieza and Vegeta's energy was at least twice as strong as it was on Earth.

"you don't understand." Dende shook his head at Krillin "if he kills Guru then the dragon balls won't work anymore and Frieza will just blow the planet up." Dende exclaimed distraught.  
"Alright, calm down." Krillin held his hands out "listen, we're not gonna let that happen, we have back up on the way and we've beat people a lot stronger than us a few times before." Krillin gave Dende a thumbs up "we'll get through this too."

"How?" Dende asked, he was afraid, afraid of what would become of his people, what would become of his planet and what would become of him?

"Honestly, kid." Krillin said "We never know until we do it."

"How can you be so confident?" Dende asked in a small voice. Krillin smiled thinking of his friends from Earth, particularly Goku, "My best friend, he taught me that no matter how bleak things get, there's always hope, sometimes it's just harder to find."

Dende smiled at Krillin, he wondered how this was the same person that disliked V so much. "I thought you were kind of mean at first." Dende said honestly.

"Really, how come?" Krillin asked.

"You were so mean to V and you're mean about V to Gohan." Dende explained. Krillin sighed _sheesh, is everyone going to give me a hard time about that girl?_ Krillin rubbed his head "that's a bit of a different story."

"I don't think it is." Dende said "I think it's the same thing. You're not looking hard enough for the good in her."

"Look kid, I think she just needs to distance herself from Gohan, she's already hurting him." Krillin tried to defend himself.

"But she's only trying to help him. I felt their link." Dende said "you're not looking for any good in it, you want to say she's bad." Dende wanted to understand Krillin, he didn't seem bad but he just didn't like V for some reason.

"come on, we have to stay focused." Krillin said abruptly ending the conversation, he didn't want to hear about V, he didn't want to think about her.

"Okay." Dende led the way toward Guru, he just wished there was some way to make Krillin see that V wasn't bad.

 _I know V is bad, she grew up bad and that's not changing now_. Krillin thought firmly as he followed Dende.

Krillin felt the power as they neared the place, it was similar to Piccolo's in the same way Goku and Vegeta had a similar energy signal. The closer Krillin got the stronger the energy got. It was strange how calm it was in the midst of all this chaos. There was another energy too. It was strong but it was more tender than the other. The first one was clearly a fighter.

"This Nail guy." Krillin began "he's not gonna attack me, is he?" Krillin wasn't really in the mood to get beat up at the moment.

"No, Nail is Guru's personal body guard. V met him when she came the first time."

"Huh…" Krillin watched as the house, perched on a small mountain, came into view, the energies becoming clear when Krillin saw a Namekian standing out in front of the house.

"He doesn't look too happy to see me here." Krillin noted.

"Nail is very serious but he's also very kind." Dende assured Krillin. Krillin was doubtful that this guy wasn't ready to fight him, by the way he was looking at Krillin, Krillin was almost surprised not to have to dodge any blasts.

"Nail." Dende dropped in front of Nail.

"Dende." Nail smiled at Dende but quickly turned a frown on Krillin "what's he doing here, Dende, you can't just bring outsiders to see Guru."

"I know, Nail, but he's friendly, he's here to help." Dende said certainly.

"you can't be sure about that." Nail gave Krillin a suspicions look.

"He came with Veroca." Dende said.

"Veroca's friend?" Nail asked.

"Mhhmm." Dende nodded.

"I wouldn't call us friends." Krillin muttered, how is it he couldn't get away from V even when she wasn't with him?

"You should be so lucky." Nail said sensing the tension within Krillin, He could sense that Krillin didn't trust Veroca but he couldn't find a reason why.

"Look, I'm not here to fight or argue about V." Krillin sighed "we came here to ask if we could use your dragon balls. There were some bad guys that came to our planet, and we lost some good people, good friends." Krillin clenched his hands into fists, he was both angry and sad. He couldn't do anything for his friends before, he couldn't fail them again.

"I see." Nail watched Krillin, there was no reason for Krillin to distrust Veroca but Nail couldn't sense any ulterior motives in him either.

 _Bring him in, Nail_ Guru order in Nail's head.

 _Yes, sir._ Nail turned and headed inside "come." Nail ordered. Dende followed without question but Krillin took a second before he followed Dende.

"Welcome to our planet." Guru smiled at Krillin "I'm sorry you've come at such a distressing time."

"I think we've come at a pretty good time." Krillin says "we're in time to help out."

"You have a strong warrior spirit." Guru smiles "you have already saved Dende here."

"Naw, that was Gohan and… V." Krillin admitted "I just followed their lead."

"You give your friend's credit." Guru smiled "you have a good heart, you are a good friend." Guru said "but good intentions aren't always for the best."

"Huh?" Krillin asked confused.

"You don't Veltro's friend." Guru stated "your friend is bonded to her."

"yeah." Krillin grumbled a little "I just don't think she's good for him." Krillin said honestly.

"beings are never bonded, especially like them, for no reason." Guru chuckled "they're good for eachother." Guru said.

"perfect for each other." Dende chimed in.

"Well, I think the universe messed up." Krillin sighed "I just don't want Gohan hurt and whether she means to or not, she's hurting him."

"yes." Guru said "intentions can lead to bad decisions." Guru gave Krillin a pointed look "but Veroca is young, and she needs someone to teach her."

"I guess so." Krillin hated to admit it, it always surprised him when he thought about V's age. I mean they guessed she was about the same age as Gohan but she looked a little younger. A little bit smaller. Krillin didn't want another person to worry about, he didn't want to see V as a friend, especially after thinking about killing her.

"You didn't come here to talk about Veroca though." Guru's smile was full of kindness "you came here concerning the Dragonballs."

"You have one!" Krillin exclaimed.

"Yes, I keep the final one you would collect if you were to pass through the other tests and receive each dragon ball."

"Can we have it?" Krillin asked without thinking.  
"How dare you come in and assume you're worthy of the dragon balls." Nail snapped, he didn't much like Krillin when he was giving Veroca such a hard time and he liked him less after that abrupt question _do Earthlings know nothing of respect?_ Nail wondered.

"It's alright, Nail." Guru soothed "He meant no disrespect."

"He might not have meant it, but he did it." Nail thought sourly. Krillin bowed his head "he's right, I'm sorry. Please, how can I earn the Dragon Ball?" Guru considered Krillin, his expression morphed into a more serious one "help my people." Guru said seriously. Krillin nodded, balling his hand into a fist "you've got it." Guru nodded and took the Dragon Ball from the top of his chair and placed the giant orb into Krillin's hands.

"Thank you." Krillin bowed his head toward Guru.

"hmm." Guru said "you have hidden potential."

"What?" Krillin asked "No, I've trained myself to my limits." Krillin assured him as Guru placed his hand on Krillin's head "really, I'm surprised I made it this far." Krillin laughed good naturedly.

Guru didn't respond. Instead, Krillin felt a surge of energy coming from Guru and then he felt something in himself open, it was like the flood gates within himself opened and there was this out pour of energy. Krillin's energy exploded out of him, surrounding him, filling up the room before settling around him. The energy swirled around him, finally free, finally unbound. It took him a moment to get ahold of it. He reined it in, just a bit though, he could really get used to this feeling.

"Woah!" Krillin exclaimed "this is all mine?" he couldn't believe he still had so much power in him. He was sure he had tapped himself out but this was his true power.

"now go to your friend." Guru said "please, stop my Dragon balls for being used for evil."

"I'll do my best." Krillin nodded. "thank you, for everything."

"Please, tell Gohan and V I said goodbye and that I hope to see them again." Dende stood in front of him, a mixture of sadness and hope in his eyes.

"yeah, I'll let them know." Krillin assured him, he cast one more look around "thanks, I'll do my best." Krillin took off with his newfound strength without a second thought.

V

 _Krillin, you idiot!_ V thought feeling Krillin's energy. It took her just a second to recognize the energy. It was much stronger than before. _How did he get so strong so fast?_ She wondered.

"You feel them, don't you?" Frieza asked watching V, he saw the surprised look on her face. She must have sensed them. _Hmmm, I'm going to have to see about this sensing thing_ Frieza thought _It'd be pretty handy to keep tabs on everyone without them even knowing._ Frieza watched V's face, a mixture of fear and anger and whatever else that stupid child felt.

V reached her energy out, careful not to open herself up to Gohan or any other mental influences. V suddenly felt sick to her stomach when she felt the energy.

"The Ginyu Force." She gasped looking to Frieza.

"Yes, they'll be here soon." Frieza chuckled to himself. "Now be a good pet and stay here." Frieza walked passed her

"but where are you going?" V asked him.

"I have a few things to do, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what with that mental radar of yours." Frieza smirked over his shoulder at her then hesitated in the doorway "oh, and tell Zarbon to keep an eye on Vegeta." Frieza left and V felt like things couldn't possibly get any worse.

V just stood there, unable to move, unable to breathe _how am I going to protect Gohan from the Ginyu Force, Frieza and Vegeta?_ V wondered. Even with her connection with Gohan severed it seemed to be second nature to protect him, above everyone, above everything else. _I need to get Gohan off of this planet_ V thought just as the ship rocked with the sound of an explosion. V felt Vegeta's energy immediately. Her heart sank into her stomach as she looked behind her at the five giant Dragonballs in the center of the room.

An explosion filled the hall followed by screams. _Typical Vegeta entrance_ V sighed. She tried to feel his energy, she wasn't sure she could take him, how much stronger had he gotten? Could she just take his energy?

"Well, look at what we have here." Vegeta sneered catching site of V beside the dragon balls. "The new pet." Vegeta sauntered into the room. V swallowed her fear and readied to fight.

"You're really going to try and fight me?" Vegeta threw his head back and laughed. "you can try." Vegeta said "but this is really in your best interest."

V hesitated. "what are you talking about?" she demanded

"I take the dragon balls and you don't have to get them from Frieza later." Vegeta reasoned "You've beaten me once." Vegeta said "maybe, by some miracle, you could do it again."

 _he's right_ V thought. _I don't need to beat him, I just need to get the Dragonballs away from Frieza, then I can wish Piccolo back and Gohan won't have a reason to stay anymore, he'll leave and Frieza won't get to him._ V straightened back up and allowed Vegeta to walk passed her. He threw an energy blast at the window, it tore through the window and Vegeta launched the orbs through the window. V watched them fly through, she tried to memorize where they were headed. She felt an energy coming from that way. It was familiar but it wasn't Krillin, it was… _Veltro!_ V though panic coursing through her _but Dronare is supposed to be watching him._ A second later she felt Gohan's energy too, but the second she reached for it she felt her block starting to slip, she pulled away and instead focus on Veltro. _What are you doing!_ She wanted to scream at Veltro and Gohan, were they trying to get killed. The only reasons she came with Frieza was to keep his attention away from them and here they were heading right toward him _right towards me_ V realized _they're coming for me, but why?_

"Why is Frieza keeping you alive?" Vegeta asked tearing through her distraught thoughts.

"I don't know." V snapped at Vegeta "because he likes to watch people suffer."

"While that's true, I think you're lying." Vegeta circled her "and I don't like to be lied to." Vegeta's hand came up before V realized what he was doing and knocked her in the back of her head. V's consciousness slipped away and Vegeta threw her over his shoulder "I don't know what Frieza sees in you but you must have something useful about you if Frieza hasn't killed you yet."

Veltro

"She's gone!" Gohan exclaimed.

"What!" Veltro swung around in front of Gohan "what do you mean she's gone?"

"I mean, her energy signal is gone, her walls are down." Gohan said. He felt the barriers drop before he felt the energy go.

"so get into her head!" Veltro yelled at him.

"She's out, someone must have knocked her out." Gohan ground his teeth together, why couldn't he just be better at this, why couldn't he just keep her safe?

"Gohan, you can still track her." Veltro said "if her barrier is down you don't need to feel her energy, you just need to focus."

Gohan closed his eyes to better focus, he could feel V's presence, that she was somewhere on the planet but he couldn't quite figure out where.

"Can you feel her?" Veltro asked. Gohan nodded

"imagine that there's a string connecting you with her." Veltro instructed Gohan did as he was told.

"Now pull on it." Veltro ordered. Again, Gohan did as he was told, he couldn't quite get it at first, it was like there was too much string but after a few tugs he started to feel where it was coming from.

 _Veltro_

Veltro froze when he heard the voice in his head

 _Dronare, I'm sorry_ Veltro said quickly _I didn't mean to disobey you, I just-there was- Veroca was in trouble_. Veltro finished.

"You disobeyed me." Dronare gave Veltro a severe look "you're headed straight for a fight and you don't even know it." Dronare's voice was stern as he dropped down in front Veltro. Veltro dropped his head.

"But, Veroca…" Veltro didn't know what else to say.

"That was stupid and reckless and you could have gotten hurt." Dronare couldn't remember the last he had been so angry with Veltro, no never mind he could remember and it was the last time he tried to help that girl.

"I'm trying to understand your feelings for Veroca but you have to understand mine when all I see you doing is acting recklessly when she's around." Dronare snapped trying not to be angry but what did Veltro expect, that Dronare wouldn't come looking for him? That Veltro would just be allowed to go picking fights with people he had no chance of defeating? People that would kill him?

"It's my fault." Gohan said "I ran off and Veltro followed me."

"Veltro knows better than do to something like this." Dronare growled. He couldn't believe his son would do something so stupid, he taught him better than this. "Now you're coming back with me." Dronare said trying to keep his anger under control "and I don't want to hear anything about it."

"But Dronare!" Veltro exclaimed "What about Veroca!"

"Her friends will take care of her, you will go to Earth until it's safe."

"Dronare!" Veltro exclaimed "I can't, Veroca needs me."

"This isn't up for discussion, Veltro." Dronare snapped finally losing it, he grabbed Veltro by the arm and pulled him towards him "Veroca is a nice girl but _you_ are my first priority."

Veltro froze he had never seen Dronare so angry before.

"You spent months, feelings the deepest sorrow I've ever experienced when she left and she's done nothing but cause you confusion and misdirected anger the whole time she been here." Dronare yelled.

"She saved my life!" Veltro yelled trying to pull free of Dronare but Dronare was so much stronger than him.

"And I raised you." Dronare snapped back. "you're getting away from here and away from Veroca _now!_ " Dronare was surprised by the ferocity in his own voice but he didn't back down. "You're just a child, Veltro." Dronare sighed losing some of his anger. Veltro watched Dronare's face morph from anger into sadness.

"I can't _lose_ you." Dronare's voice had dropped to a whisper as he watched his son. It was true that Veltro had felt more pain and loneliness after V left than he ever had before, than he ever thought he could feel. He had felt anger he didn't understand since she came back with her new brother and he did things he wouldn't normally do. But Veroca was his friend, he couldn't even really explain why he liked her so much, just that he did and if she wanted to go with Gohan, then he wouldn't be mad at her. He could live knowing she was alive. He couldn't live without her existing somewhere though. Veltro met Dronare's eyes and offered an apologetic smile "So is she." He said "and I can't lose her again."

Dronare felt pride swelling in his chest, he didn't want to be proud of his son, he wanted to order Veltro to the Earthling's ship and send him away to someplace safe but it took Dronare this moment, watching that determined look in Veltro's eyes to realize that Veltro didn't think that he was strong enough to beat these guys, he wasn't overestimating his own abilities like Dronare thought Veltro was he was. Veltro just didn't care, his mind was set on saving Veroca and that was all there was to it.

"Well, then." Dronare wrapped his arms around Veltro "I guess it's time to put your training to the test."

"Really!" Veltro exclaimed meeting Dronare's eyes. "You'll let me fight?" Dronare nodded "but you have to listen to me, you're strong, you're determined but I have more experience."

"Okay!" Veltro squeezed Dronare with all his might before Dronare grabbed Gohan and dropped to the ground with the kids and hid behind a boulder.

"Drop your power level." Dronare instructed. Veltro and Gohan didn't hesitate. Gohan felt the energy a moment later.

"Vegeta!" Gohan gasped. Dronare nodded and watched the sky as a streak flew across. Gohan felt her before anyone else saw her.

"V…" he gasped watching Vegeta fly away with his sister.

"What?" Veltro whispered back. Gohan gulped and watched Vegeta until he couldn't see him anymore. Then he turned to Veltro. "Vegeta has V."

Goku

Goku helplessly watched from his space pod as the space pods disappeared into Nameks atmosphere _please guys, just hold on. I'm almost there._

Goku looked back at his ship

 _"_ _Five hours until arrival."_ The ship announced, Goku groaned, five hours was an eternity when there was a power that strong coming for his kids and friends.

"They're not strong enough" Goku growled angry with himself "Gohan… V… Krillin… please, just stay away from them, whoever they are."

V

The world faded in slowly for V, she hadn't been knocked out in a while now. She'd been tired and beaten after her last fight with Vegeta but she had remained conscious.

"Look what's awake." Vegeta sneered hovering over his collection of Dragon balls. V frowned at him "why did you bother taking me?" She demanded pulsing her energy to put herself on her feet.

"Frieza might be cruel and power mad but he's not an idiot." Vegeta eyed V, there was nothing remotely special, she was a low level Saiyan. "if he was keeping you around then there was a reason for it and until I figure that reason out, you're going to stay right here with me."

"Not a chance." V took to the sky. Vegeta was taken aback by how fast she was but before she could gain any more speed he caught her tail and threw her into the ground. V landed with a crash, still a bit disoriented from Vegeta's initial knock out blow. V crawled out of the rubble and glared at Vegeta.

"Come now." Vegeta chuckled "You know you can't beat me." V didn't move to relax but she knew he was right, he had the upper hand. he was stronger and more experienced and better than her. She might have made new friends but she couldn't beat Vegeta on her own. V stepped down and settled for glaring at Vegeta instead.

"My dad will come for me and he'll beat you all over again." V turned and sat on one of the dragon balls. "Do you even know how these work?" V asked.

"Once I have all of them the rest should be easy." Vegeta scoffed at he, what a stupid child. Frieza must have just been keeping her for a toy… but I'll keep her with me just in case.

V watched Vegeta, she was tempted to try and read his mind but she didn't want to drop her walls. Instead she reached out with her energy to find Frieza, he was up to something before and it she knew it wasn't good. She found his energy easy enough, it was easily the most spine chilling energy she had ever felt. She searched the area around him, she felt Zarbon, the regular goons. His energy was pulsing with annoyance. Zarbon was supposed to be watching Vegeta, V would be surprised if Frieza killed him in his anger, now that the Ginyu Force was on their way he really didn't need Zarbon. But Frieza really didn't need any of them. Frieza just wanted people around to fear him.

 _What are you doing?_ V wondered trying to find something familiar. She expanded her reach around Frieza further and further out until she hit a few familiar energies. _Dronare is with Gohan and Veltro?_ V was a little confused. Dronare didn't dislike her but his main concern was Veltro, she couldn't blame him, Veltro needed a little more attention. He was a Saiyan after all.

V gasped when she felt the energies strike the planet _they're here_ she didn't know what to feel. On the one hadn the Ginyu Force could kill all of them without breaking a sweat. On the other hand V was sure Frieza would send them after Vegeta first.

"What are you staring at, Brat." Vegeta snapped. V hadn't realized she was staring toward the direction of the energies until Vegeta said something. V sighed and looked to Vegeta "The Ginyu force his here." She said.

Vegeta paled "wh-what…"

 **...**

 **So, who's down for the Veltro/Dronare scene? more? less?**

 **what about Gohan VS Veltro, who's better for V**

 **and is Veltro justified in his feelings toward Gohan.**

 **Who will she choose to stay with and why is Frieza so intersted in V?**

 **As always please leave comments and reviews. I'd prefer no hate, this is jut my young imaginings of my favoirite show but express yourself how you feel appropriate.**

 **Also... predictions? I love to hear them**


	14. Chapter 14

**Super sorry for being MIA, I had some family emergencies going on and what not but here is a new chapter and chapters will be regularly posted every week. Let me know what day of the week would you guys prefer? Saturday night had been the previous schedule but . want to know if there's a better day for you. V is character I wrote to help me through tough days so if there's a certain day of the week that coming home and knowing there's a new chapter of this that would make you feel any better just let me know.**

 **Also, special shout out to Foxglove for staying on me, thank you for the reminders and encouragement, I'm so glad V could be a happy place for you.**

V

V watched Vegeta struggle for words. His face drawn into one of fear and panic. There was nothing Vegeta could do about the Ginyu force. He could dance around Frieza, Frieza's men were not all that strong, except for Dodoria and Zarbon. The Ginyu Force he only called in when he was getting impatient or bored. But even then, the Ginyu Force could take them out without a problem. They were never in the game to begin with. V's best hope was to buy the other's enough time to find some sense and leave her here.

"I can take them." Vegeta stammered

Not even Vegeta could lie to himself about something so big. The Ginyu force was stronger than anyone V had ever met, on top of that they were ruthless and possibly even worse than that… they were extremely annoying. They can't even just kill someone, they have to do their dances and strike a hundred poses. The time Raditz and the others left her with the Ginyu force was just cruel and unusual punishment.

"They're going to kill you first." V took some comfort in that knowledge, she shouldn't, her dad wouldn't like her to have these thoughts, he wouldn't be proud of her for wishing death upon anyone. Worse still, even if she could stop the Ginyu Force, she wouldn't she would let them kill Vegeta, she'd probably even enjoy it.

It didn't matter anyway, dad was not here and she was not strong enough to stop anyone. She would have just that much more time. "Frieza still thinks I'm with him, you stole Frieza's pet _and_ his dragon balls."

Vegeta's face shifted from fear to rage as he advanced on V. "You think this is funny?" He growls snatching V from the ground by her shirt "you think any of this is funny, if you don't get your useless friends over here and on our side, you're going to be next and then them." Vegeta was angry and afraid and V knew there was no worse combination, fear makes people desperate.

"My friends are going to be gone before the Ginyu force finish you off." V sneered.

"You're even more of an idiot than I thought! If you think Frieza is going to let anyone off this planet alive, you're a complete MORON!" Vegeta yelled at V.

"We'll make a great distraction." V glared at Vegeta. Vegeta threw V to the ground "I can't believe so much stupid can fit into such a tiny _useless_ creature." Vegeta huffed "It's a wonder why Frieza kept you, he always did like to keep company that makes him look better."

"Sounds familiar." V pulsed herself back to her feet and glared at Vegeta.

"I need that Dragonball," Vegeta muttered "Once I get the dragon ball I'll be unstoppable."

"Good luck with that." V couldn't help but smirk a little, most of the lines she was using on Vegeta right now were lines he used on her.

"You little runt." Vegeta turned on her, eyes raging. "don't you get it?" he seethed "if I die, your best shot at defeating Frieza dies too."

"My dad will save us and we'll go back to Earth." V barked back although it was only as the words left her mouth that she realized she was waiting for her father to save her. She trusted him, she'd come to believe in him as the others do.

"That low level Saiyan." Vegeta scoffed "at least you'll all die together." Vegeta relished this laugh because nothing else was all that funny. The little brat was right about one thing, Frieza would send the Ginyu force after him first. V was still Frieza's pet as far as Vegeta knew and he'd want her back alive for as long as she entertained him.

"He's already beaten the odds once." V said "he can do it again." V felt herself opening back up. The line that connects V and Gohan growing brighter, V cut it off before Gohan could notice, _no_ V thought _if Gohan feels me open back up he'll think I want him to come and save me_.

"death isn't so forgiving the second time around, Veroca." Vegeta sneered "Get your friends to help me or I'll kill you just for being a nuisance." V held her arms out "go ahead."

Vegeta chuckles "Always were a stubborn brat." energy swirled around his hand "well, Veroca, I can't say I'll miss you." Vegeta smirked at her "but I will say… this is _long_ overdue." V just glared at him. She wouldn't flinch, she wouldn't be weak, Gohan would not feel an ounce of fear from her. Although there was most definitely fear crawling under her skin, she was more angry than anything. She survived Frieza up to now and _Vegeta_ is the one that gets to finish her off. At least with Frieza no one would laugh at her death, I mean, who could beat Frieza?

"Get away from her!" Veltro's voice pierced through V's angry thoughts, an energy blast matching his signal exploded just in front of her and the next second Veltro was there on her left, an arm on her shoulder and Gohan was on her right holding her hand and Dronare stood behind them, a guardian not of earth but of his son. The same way Goku and Piccolo always stood behind Gohan.

"What are you doing here!" V growled at them. It came out harsher than she intended but this wasn't a game, Vegeta was going to kill her for being annoying. Now he was going to kill them to hurt her and then he was going to kill her. V knew Vegeta's game better than anyone. He learned from the best after all. He learned from the galaxy's most feared tyrant, Frieza.

"It's okay, V." Gohan squeezed his sister. "you don't have to fight alone, we can fight together."

V froze and turned wide eyes on Vegeta. "you planned this," she accused "you knew they'd follow your energy." V's hands balled into fists.

"Not a complete moron after all." Vegeta chuckled and turned his eyes on the Namek. "if you want your brat to survive, you'll help me fight the Ginyu force."

"NO." V stepped ahead of all of them. "get them back to the ship, Dronare." V squared off with Vegeta "we can't beat the Ginyu force."

"The who?" Gohan asked grabbing his sister's wrist "what's wrong, who else is coming?"

"The Ginyu force." Vegeta repeated for her. "They're Frieza's elite fighters and they're here to get the dragon balls."

"Leave with Gohan and Veltro." V ordered Dronare "We can't beat them, they won't even have fun killing us."

"We can fight together." Gohan said optimistically. V grabbed Gohan's arm, Gohan flinched, she'd never been this rough with him. "no, we can't." V snapped at him "they're too strong, stronger than piccolo, stronger than Vegeta, _stronger than Dad!_ " V exclaimed "they'll kill you and they'll kill Veltro and they'll kill Dronare and Bulma and any chance we have of wishing Piccolo back to life."

"Calm down, Veroca." Veltro placed a hand on her shoulder. V's eyes were full of fear and panic. Veltro hated to see it, it wasn't like V to be like this. She'd been afraid with him before, annoyed but never so much that she couldn't control herself.

V's hands dug into Gohan's arms. She could feel she was hurting him but she couldn't make herself let go either.

"Veroca." Veltro says curling his fingers around her wrists "it's okay."

Dronare stood watch over Veltro and Gohan and V as Vegeta stood there impatiently, Vegeta needed these weaklings, if for nothing more than a few bodies to throw in his path.

"It's _not_." V whimpered finally allowing Veltro to remove her hands from Gohan's arms.

"It _is_." Veltro disagreed "we can fight together, we can _win_."

"You don't _know_ them like I do." V's body trembled in barley contained fear "you haven't seen what they can do."

"But I have." Vegeta barked "and just like Zarbon and Dodoria, they can be killed."

"Not by us." V yelled back at him "just because you already got all of your friends killed doesn't mean I want the same for mine!"

"what difference does getting killed now or later make!" Vegeta snapped at her "where's your Saiyan pride?"

"With the rest of the Saiyan race." V yelled back "Dead!"

"Weakling!" Vegeta raged "pathetic, useless, brat!" Vegeta charged forward, Veltro stepped in front of V, Gohan stood beside V and Dronare appeared in front of Vegeta. He met Vegeta's eyes.

"It seems my son is ready to fight for his friend." Dronare's voice rumbles, V watched the tensions thicken.

"Then he'll die with her." Vegeta threatened.

"If you make a move against my son." Dronare didn't blink as he stated Vegeta down "I will have to stop you."

"You won't be anything but another nuisance." Vegeta clenched his hands into fists, Dronare readied to fight but V froze, her sense reaching out and touching the five powerful energies heading right toward them.

"Oh no…" V gasped.

"What is it?" Gohan asked, Veltro glanced over his shoulder at her.

"It's too late." V shook her head "it's too late!" she yelled in frustration. "go." She shoved Gohan thirty feet away toward their ship "go, leave!"

"Veroca!" Veltro grabbed her hands again but V threw him right after Gohan "go, now go!" she grabbed Dronare's arm "you have to get to out ship, take them off this planet Dronare, _please!_ "

Dronare froze when he felt the energies. He had felt more powerful and dark energies in the last two weeks than he had his entire life with these invaders.

"Go, Dronare _please!_ " V begged him. Dronare moved to listen but the energies were here.

"Well well well…" V froze at the sight of the four elite soldiers. She swallowed her fear and tried to regain some composure but Gohan was too close to this, Veltro had never seen people like this and Dronare, Dronare was like her. He was going to have to watch the person he loved the most murdered right in front of his eyes… and he won't be able to stop it.

"Long time no see, Vegeta." Recoome landed between Vegeta and Dronare. He planted his gigantic hand on Vegeta's head and scrubbed his hair down. Even Vegeta, the mighty Saiyan prince… did nothing.

"And Veroca." Jeice landed beside V "you got a bit taller didn't you?" Jeice grabbed her by the tail and lifted her off the ground but she didn't go limp like the last time.

"Why aren't you helpless." Jeice shook her as if she were a broken toy.

"She's been training." Veltro dropped back to her side. "That's not her weakness anymore."

"Didn't know they could do that." Jeice tossed here to the side, bored with his old toy.

"Who are you guys?" Gohan asked helping V to her feet.

They all smirked and V couldn't watch this. She closed her eyes as they went through their motions "we are…"

 _Oh, I can't watch_ V thought dropping her head into her hands.

"The Ginyu Force!" She knew they were still holding the pose, like they were waiting for an applause.

"What the…" Gohan trailed off.

"Was that?" Veltro finished Gohan's thought.

"It's just something they do." V felt embarrassed for them but when you're that strong it doesn't really matter what everyone else thinks. V could only dream of being that strong.

"We can take 'em." Veltro stood his ground, the same way he saw Veroca do the first time they met. She was weaker than him and Dronare but she stood her ground, she protected them and Veltro would do the same.

"No, we can't." V shook her head. Veltro glanced back at her surprised.

"You can't give up." Veltro said, "not without a fight."

"I can if that fight will get you and Gohan killed!" she grabbed Veltro and shoved him behind her "just leave, Veltro… _please!_ " Veltro set his jaw and grabbed V back, he'd never been so angry at being told what to do until that moment.

"No and you can't make me either." Veltro pushed V to the side and squared up to the Ginyu force who had just resumed normal stances.

V watched Veltro, he was different, he was really different. _He's a Saiyan_ V thought giving up on trying to get him to leave. She turned to Gohan hoping maybe she could get at least one of them to see some sense.

"If all of us are dead, then there won't be anyone to wish us back." V tried to reason. Gohan smiles at her looking very much like their father "then we better not lose." He grabbed V's hand "Dad will be here in time." he said, "We just need to wait for him." V watched Gohan's eyes, she opened the link just the slightest bit and she could feel the purest trust she had ever felt. She felt Gohan reaching toward her automatically, eager to mend the physic connection.

"You're one of the Namekians, aren't you?" Recoome poked at Dronare. Dronare grit his teeth at Recoome.

"Of course he is." V snapped flying between them.

"hey, it's Veroca!" Recoome grabbed her "look how tiny you are." Recoome laughed and threw her into the air. V used to have to just fall and catch herself, now she pulsed her energy and she torpedoed back down toward he others.

"Hey!" Recoome exclaimed excitedly "you can fly now!" Recoome grabbed her tail and flung her in a circled over his head. "you can fly now!"

Gohan and Veltro looked on at the massive oaf, how could powerful, stubborn V be so afraid of someone like _that_?

"Quite it!" V growled her face turning a deep shade of red. "I'm not a toy!" her voice squeaked a pitch higher than normal making her face even more red.

"Who's you're new friends?" Berter's gravelly voice came from just beside V, she looked out to see him standing there, arms crossed, towering over all the others. His eyes shifting from Dronare to Veltro to Gohan. Berter looked back to Veltro.

"We've got another stray." Berter moved toward Veltro, Veltro refused to back down but the closer Berter got the stronger Veltro realized Berter was.

"What's a Saiyan doing on Namek?" Berter knelt and pulled Veltro's tail out from around his waist.

"I live here." Veltro said sternly, at the very least, he would sound brave.

"You'd think these monkeys would at least get one thing right." Berter laughed "if you're going to send a child to wipe out a planet make sure it remembers what it's supposed to be doing." The Ginyu force all laughed at him. V didn't have to have any kind of psychic ability to know Veltro was getting annoyed.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" V yelled at him, Recoome continued to spin her around, it never did take much to amuse Recoome.

Berter stood back up and turned to face V "I don't see anyone my size." Berter smirked. "Perhaps you were thinking more along the lines of Vegeta?" Berter turned to Vegeta, Vegeta tried and failed not to flinch under Berter's gaze.

"I'm talking about me." V pulsed her energy to stop Recoome from spinning her but he held onto her tail.

"Ha!" Recoome laughed "she looks like a balloon."

Gohan could feel how strong this guy was but he was clearly not the brains of this operation. The rest of the Ginyu force laughed with him.

"Let's see if she'll pop." Berter advanced on V, Gohan and Veltro both moved to help her in any way they could but Dronare appeared in front of the two boys.

"Stop." He whispered "Veroca knows how to handle these people, she's buying us some time." Dronare looks to Gohan "she's waiting for your father."

Gohan looked at V as she hovered over Recoome, Recoome trapping her there by her tail. She wasn't angry or scared anymore, she was thinking. She was planning. _She's waiting for dad because I promised her he'd be here in time_ Gohan realized. Gohan had never doubted their father before but he couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of fear for V because she put her full trust in him and she was betting her life on it. _Oh, please hurry daddy_ Gohan willed the words to reach their father.

"Go ahead and try, you big bully." V challenged the purple alien. V couldn't take any of these guys, they were a hundred times stronger than her but she couldn't help the little bit of relief that the captain here with them. These guys were easily distracted, even Jeice could be played but they would get bored eventually. V only hoped she could keep them entertained long enough for her dad to get here. She could take it.

"A little feistier than the last time we saw you." Recoome chuckled giving her enough leash to face off against Berter.

"A little stronger too." V puffed herself up, channeling every ounce of Vegeta she had lived with and all of her Saiyan pride into one egotistical projection of herself. She smirked at Berter "and faster." She cocked her brow and crossed her arms. Berter narrowed his eyes at her "I hope you're not implying that you're faster than me."

V nodded "That's exactly what I'm _saying_." Vegeta might just be proud of V at that moment, had she been on his side and had it not been an act.

"How about a little race then?" Berter suggested. Jayce rolled his eyes. "come on, mate, you're not really going to let her get your got like that are you?" He chortled "of course she's not faster than you."

"She needs to be reminded of her place." Berter grabbed V by the collar of her shirt and threw her onto the ground. Veltro and Gohan ground their teeth but Dronare wasn't going to let them pass and Gohan knew he was right. V knows how to handle people like this better than he does.

"You might be fastest in your stupid group!" Veltro yelled for lack of anything better to do, he couldn't just do _nothing!_

"But V is the fastest in the whole universe and she's gonna kick your butt!" Veltro yelled. V fixed him with a sharp glare just before Dronare did the same.

 _Shut up!_ V willed the message into Veltro's head.

Veltro winced with the force of the words 'Shut up' he glanced at Dronare but Dronare wouldn't say that and it didn't feel like Dronare, it felt kind of like…V.

 _Fine._ Veltro tried to send a message back _but you can win_

V shook Veltro's words out of her head, this wasn't about winning it was about buying time. V knows she can't beat these guys but she can buy time.

Berter motioned a circle with his finger "around the planet, first one to tag their partners hand wins."

"Dibs!" Recoome jumped "Berter's partner."

"Who'll your partner be, eh?" Jeice taunted V "Vegeta?"

"I will." Gohan and Veltro chimed in at the same time. Veltro cast an annoyed look at Gohan.

"Finally made some friends did you?" Jayce laughed "two runts, I guess that makes at least one full one." Jayce laughed at his own jabs, V didn't much care about Jace.

"Gohan will be her partner." Dronare nudged Gohan forward.

"But Dronare!" Veltro exclaimed.

"They're bonded." Dronare said. "She'll have a more accurate reading on him than you."

"You just don't want me to be involved." Veltro accused.

"Partly, yes." Dronare admitted "but you know it's true, V can latch onto Gohan better than she can you."

"But—"

"Pick your battles, Veltro, Veroca needs you too, she just needs Gohan right now." Dronare rested his hand on Veltro's shoulder. The last thing Veltro wanted to do was let Gohan take this one, Veltro wanted to help Veroca but he was already drawing attention to himself and that wasn't going to help Veroca. Veltro closed his mouth but he even though he wasn't happy about it, he'd do it for Veroca. If someone attacked him and Veroca and Dronare got hurt protecting him, he'd never forgive himself.

V relaxed the slightest bit when she felt Veltro cooling down, he'd wait, he'd stay on the sidelines for now.

"I'm here for you." Gohan clasped V's shoulder "please let me in, it'll be easier to find me." V refused to look at Gohan.

"Are we doing this or what?" Berter barked at her. He always did get himself all uppity when someone challenged his speed.

"Whenever you're ready." V bit out "take your time, I'm waiting on you." Berter growled at her, V didn't so much as flinch, she had nothing to lose as long as Berter kept his attention on her. "Then let's go." Berter knelt down, V joined him and Gohan hovered beside her.

"Open up to me." Gohan whispered to V.

Recoome stood beside Berter. "Let's see if the little runt has learned anything."

"alright." Jeice landed in front of Berter and V.

" _Please,_ V." Gohan begged V.

"Ready!" Jeice raised his arm "set."

" _V_." Gohan tried one last time to get V's attention but V kept her eyes ahead, if she could even stay on his tail he'd demand another race, he's supposed to be the fastest in the universe, he won't settle for winning by a little, he wants to win—win.

"GO!" Jeice yelled, V and Berter took off. V torpedoed through the air after Berter leaving Gohan and Veltro in the dust.

Dronare watch V fly, _she's fast_ he noted. Berter took the lead almost immediately but V held strong, staying right on his tail. She pushed herself faster, faster, _I can do it_ V thought the words to herself _I can do this, I can do this_ V pictured Gohan in her mind. Smiling, happy, innocent Gohan who needed to get home to their mother and grow up and study like he likes and train with Piccolo and Dad.

"Faster." V ordered herself, she felt her walls slipping. Energy swirled around V her own energy reaching outwards, toward Gohan maybe. V tried to reign it in but it that kept her from going faster.

 _V_ Gohan's voice reached her inside her head. V pushed against it but she felt herself losing her speed. Berter rushed forward, V stopped resisting and flew after him, she felt her energy grabbing onto his. She wasn't just feeling it, she was using it. Her energy pulled on his and mixed with his, she flew faster.

 _You can do it V!_ Gohan cheered her on. Berter's energy was icky, it made V sick to her stomach but she couldn't block that and go full speed. V focused on Gohan _I will protect you_ V swore, she tracked his feel, they were already almost around the planet. This planet was considerably smaller than Earth. V felt his energy along with him. she felt lighter with Gohan back in her head. she powered through. Berter looked back, a smug look on his face. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Impossible!" he yelled throwing an energy blast back at V. V dodged it with ease, she was faster than he anticipated, she couldn't be this, it's only been a few years since he last saw her, she was just a child.

"Cheater!" she yelled at him more to get him riled up than caring whether he was playing fair. All the better for her, it gave her more ammo to taunt him with and she was going to need all the ammo she could get if she was going to buy them enough time to live through this.

"You're not faster than me!" Berter shouted at her, picking up the speed. V's speed seemed to increase with his and she trailed just behind.

"Still here!" V taunted as the finish line came into view.

"This can't be real!" Vegeta exclaimed seeing V on Berter's trail.

"No way!" Jeice couldn't even hide his surprise.

"Yes way!" V pushed herself faster, this time reaching out for Berter's energy. She felt her energy writhe against it, trying to remain the primary energy as it sampled Berter's. V felt herself going faster, she could reach Berter's leg if she wanted to.

"Go Veroca!" Veltro cheered. Even Dronare was at a loss for words, _how did she get so strong so fast?_ He couldn't help but wonder, it's barely been more than a year or two since he saw her and she must have been ten times as strong and fast. Dronare reached out to her, her energy felt strange, not entirely hers.

"Come on, V!" Gohan extended his hand to his sister.

"Come on, Berter!" Recoome mimicked Gohan. V pulsed herself further, now she was by his side but he was much bigger than her, she wasn't going to win.

"No!" Berter shoved V away from Gohan. V spiraled out of control, losing her grip on Berter's energy.

"Veroca!" Veltro jumped up and caught her just before she could pulse her energy and catch herself.

"Are you okay?" Veltro flew them back to the ground, V gave herself a shake and smirked at Berter standing beside Recoome.

"I knew it." V flew over to Berter "you can't beat me fair and square, you're not the fastest in the universe anymore, you're just the cheaterest." She stuck her tongue out at him and hoped she wasn't pushing hard enough to make him want to fight. Just hard enough to demand another race,

"You little runt!" Berter grabbed V by her collar, she didn't flinch.

"beating me up won't make you any faster." V taunted.

"I was just going easy on you." Berter threw her down "again, this time no holding back." V hopped to her feet.

"You got it." V watched Berter's shoulders knot up in annoyance with her.

"Now!" Berter took off again, V latched onto his energy and flew after him.

 _perfect, now if I can just keep this up until dad gets here_


	15. Chapter 15

Gohan

Something was wrong, V's energy felt really weird. It felt like she maxed out on speed and then all of a sudden, she was catching back up to Berter. Gohan never doubted that V could accomplish her goal but he was getting worried, that dark energy from before and now he can feel something similar to Berter's energy in her.

 _Are you okay?_ Gohan asked using their connection freely. He couldn't believe how easy it was to fall right back into each other like this. How much better—more complete he felt with V.

 _I'm okay_ V answered back, she was still resisting the connection but she couldn't spare any focus, she had to keep them distracted, with the feel of these guys' energy she was their best shot at getting through this until dad could get there and save them.

 _Please be careful_ Gohan pleaded with her.

 _Please tell Veltro to calm his thoughts down, they're making it hard to focus._ V sounded tired or maybe she felt tired, Gohan had trouble differentiating these kinds of things when it came to V.

"Veltro." Gohan didn't want to move from his spot and make V miss him.

"What?" Veltro tried not to be annoyed, he knew V let Gohan back in by the way Gohan was staring after her, he always gets this look on his face when he's talking to V in his head.

"V said to calm your thoughts, they're distracting her." Gohan didn't think anything of it but Veltro balled his hands into fists "your thoughts are distracting her—"

"Veltro." Dronare barked at his son. He never thought he'd have to deal with something like this. Of course Dronare was aware of other planets relational customs, Earth not as familiar but he had been a few places and he knew aliens liked to pair up and create familial units, not unlike the one he created with Veltro but instead of a physic bond it was a partnership with one another and creating a new life together. Dronare wouldn't be surprised if Gohan and V did that when they grew older. Dronare hoped not, he didn't want to see what it would do to Veltro. Veltro himself doesn't even know what he feels for Veroca but he'd understand it when he gets older. Dronare wasn't sure if he should hope for Veltro's feelings for Veroca to fade or wish for Veroca to somehow shift her bond from Gohan to Veltro. He supposed either one would solve his problem but Veltro would only want one of those scenarios.

Gohan watched Dronare eye Veltro, he could only imagine what Dronare was thinking but he looked like he was trying to figure a difficult problem out. Dronare shifted his eyes to Gohan. Gohan avoided Dronare's eyes and looked for V instead, he could feel her getting closer. Gohan doubted Dronare was thrilled that V had bonded with Gohan and not Veltro, Dronare was the one that has to take care of Veltro. Gohan knew his father wouldn't want Gohan to hurt in any way but Veltro and V could still be friends. V and Gohan would just be bonded and be brother and sister and Veltro could be her best friend… that lives on a different planet.

"Gohan!" Veltro pointed at V flying toward them, V's energy pulsed and writhed in a different rhythm than Gohan was used to and… V WAS IN THE LEAD!

"What!" Vegeta exclaimed the loudest of any of them. Berter was just beside her, his face pinched in pure rage as V sped headlong tpward the finish line.

"V!" Gohan held his hand up for V to tag.

"Berter!" Recoome shouted sliding a mischievous look at Gohan. V drew closer, extending her hand toward Gohan.

"Sorry little guy." Recoome shoved Gohan several feet across the ground, he tumbled and rolled and landed on his back with his feet by his head.

"You big cheater!" Gohan yelled at Recoome as V flew past the finish line and Berter tagged Recoome's hand.

"I don't remember making any rules." Recoome laughed. Gohan ground his teeth together as V circled and dropped down beside him.

"Are you okay?" she asked pulling him to his feet. Gohan offered her a smile but V didn't need it, he was upset for her, not himself.

"It's okay, it's just more to use against him." V smiled and squeezed Gohan's hand. V turned and puffed her chest out and threw her head back and laughed at Recoome, she channeled her best Vegeta impression.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, "I knew you couldn't beat me." V pulsed herself into the air. "you must be getting old, Berter." She taunted. Berter's face went from purple to red, he whirled on Recoome "idiot!" he spat "I didn't need your help."

"Sure looked like it." Recoome couldn't help but laugh, how _did_ a that little runt beat Berter? Berter rammed his elbow into Recoome's stomach "shut it you buffoon." Berter growled glaring at V.

"again." he ordered,

"What for?" Jeice rolled his eyes. "So, she can beat you again?"

"I am the fastest in the universe!" Berter seethed.

"Not any _more_." V sang.

"Now!" Berter darted ahead, V bolted after him.

 _be ready this time._ V ordered Gohan but there was something almost giddy about the thought.

 _I really can beat him_!

Gohan didn't think V meant for him to hear that thought but her joy was making him smile bigger than he'd ever smiled before.

Gohan mentally stayed close to V as she raced around Namek, trading places with Berter between beating him and just behind him.

 _Come on, V_ Gohan tried to project his confidence toward her but he wasn't sure if she was getting, she just kept going, her mind only focused on doing this for him. Gohan was glad Veltro couldn't hear her thoughts, that would just upset him.

 _Poor Veltro_ Gohan couldn't help the thought, he couldn't imagine the roles reversed, how he'd feel if he had to let his best friend go.

 _Gohan!_ V snapped at him more harshly than he was sure she meant to _you being louder than Veltro was_ V felt strained.

 _What's wrong_? Gohan asked concerned but he felt her keeping something just out of his reach.

 _Need to focus_ V narrowed her thoughts to him, only him as she took the full lead in front of Berter. Gohan raised his hand again and kept an eye on Recoome but Recoome looked a little sour, like maybe he was angry at Berter.

 _Ready?_ V asked in Gohan's head. Gohan nodded mentally conveying his answer to her.

 _Closing in now_ V tore through the air, her energy wild as she reached for Gohan's hand.

"No!" Berter shouted throwing a blast ahead of him. V felt the energy coming toward her she dodged high. Too late V realized she wasn't the target.

"Gohan!" V yelled verbally and mentally. V reached outward for him, pulsing her energy around him. Gohan felt her urgency and braced himself but he wasn't strong enough, he was just a kid.

Gohan felt V's energy wrapping around him like a fortress, the energy laced with his own and he felt stronger than ever, he felt brave and powerful but V knew it wasn't enough. The blast struck the energy field and encased Gohan in the blast.

"Gohan!" Even Veltro couldn't find a second of happiness that he wouldn't have to share V now.

"Dronare was the only one that saw it. V's energy field absorbed Berter's blast.

Berter smacked Recoome's hand and crossed his arms "looks like the little runt is still just a little runt." Berter laughed. V landed beside Gohan who was laying on the ground.

"Gohan?" V reached for him both physically and mentally. V's energy encompassed him, it was doing something to him. V placed her hands on V, dipping her hands into the pool of energy around Gohan, her energy immediately grabbed the pool of energy and drew it into her. V gasped with the intensity of the energy but Gohan's eyes snapped open and he sat up.

"V!" He exclaimed but after a second he found her there with him. "V." He threw his arms around his sister "I was worried about you." He squeezed her.

"Me?" V asked confused. "You were the one that got blasted."

"Yeah but… your energy, something—it's…" Gohan couldn't figure out how to explain it. "Here." Gohan showed her through their connection. V flinched and pulled away _that's what her energy felt like to him_? it was wild and restless and dangerous, she felt dangerous.

"That part isn't yours, it's his." Gohan jabbed a finger at Berter "it's like… it's like you used his energy." Gohan shook his head "but how is that possible?"

"I…" V hesitated looking unsure. "I take energy." V looked away from him, "and I copy it to myself."

Gohan opened his mouth to tell her there's nothing wrong with that and that it's her power but She jumped to her feet and stared at the sky.

"Krillin!" V exclaimed.

"Found this one." Gohan found Krillin being led to the by a short and squat green alien.

"Guldo." V seemed genuinely scared for Krillin.

"Who's that?" Gohan whispered to V.

"Guldo." V stood in front of V as if she could hide him. "Stay low." V whispered to him.

"Is he really strong?" Gohan asked.

"No." V shook her head "it's his power, he can—"

"Look what I've found."

"Gohan!" Krillin exclaimed, Dragon Ball in hand.

"Krillin, you idiot." V growled. Guldo wasn't exactly strong.

"What's going on?" Krillin landed beside V and Gohan, he spared V a glance but turned his attention on Gohan. "Are you okay?" Krillin asked him.

"I'm okay, V saved me." Gohan smiled at V always giving her credit.

"Yeah… after she got you into trouble?" Krillin couldn't help it, he just didn't trust V.

"Krillin." Gohan chastised Krillin.

"Krillin, you guys need to get out of here right now." V stood in front of both of the. "take that dragon ball and run."

Gohan caught Vegeta move amongst their opponents. Vegeta snatched a Dragon ball from the ground and chucked it clear out of sight.

"Not gonna work." V sighed and Berter disappeared.

"Now!" V pushed Krillin and Gohan the opposite way "go now!" She exclaimed looking to Dronare, he was the only one that could drag Veltro away to some place safe and Krillin doesn't even like V, he'll protect Gohan.

"No." Gohan pushed past Krillin to stand beside V just as Berter returned.

"No…" V clenched her hands into fists.

"What!" Vegeta exclaimed "I threw that as hard as I could."

"Yeah, you did." Jeice smirked at Vegeta. "Too bad it wasn't hard enough."

 _Quite trying to get rid of me_ Gohan told V _we can do this together._

 _You don't know these guys_ V answered back, for the first time in a while, not trying to push him away.

 _Just stay back._ V orders him _stay low and don't try to help me._

 _Fine_ Gohan agreed reluctantly but he didn't mean it, if V needs his help then he's going to help her.

V took her stand in front of her brother and even Krillin and stared the Ginyu force down.

"What do we have here?" Guldo's eyes landed on V but she didn't even flinch. Gohan admired that about her because he could feel her fear but she didn't show an ounce of it.

"Long time no see." V glared at Guldo.

"Still Vegeta's pet?" Guldo snickered.

"Still the mascot." V shot back. Guldo lost his humor and stomped over to V.

"I've got dibs on the runt." He huffed.

"Who are you calling runt!" Veltro landed between V and Guldo "you're barely taller than her." Veltro sensed Guldo's energy. "and you're not even stronger than she is."

"You little brat." Guldo's energy spiked. V snatched Veltro back by his shirt and planted her palm into Guldo's chest. The little green alien stumbled a few steps back before he tripped and rolled halfway back to his crew.

 _Darn it_ V thought. Gohan tried to prod at the thought but V didn't so much think in coherent sentences as images of what she thinks will happen.

 _Can't start a fight_ V thought to herself but Gohan had full access to her thoughts, even more so than before.

"The little runt's gotten much stronger." Jeice noted, "she pushed Guldo like he was nothing."

Vegeta just stared at the soon to be battle field. That little brat, how did she get so fast? Vegeta eyed the ginyus _how am I going to get out of this one_ Vegeta was sure he wasn't strong enough to take them all, maybe one on one he could do it but not all of them and as fast as Veroca had gotten she still wasn't strong enough to be of use. A distraction at best but Guldo had gone an interrupted the game sha had been playing with Berter. Vegeta tried to ease back a few steps.

"Where do you think you're going?" Berter stood directly behind Vegeta.

 _Darn it_ Vegeta silently cursed.

V gave herself a shake trying to get out of Vegeta's head. Gohan hadn't even realized she could just venture into people's thoughts like that.

 _I wasn't trying to_ V thought.

 _It's okay, you just need to learn more control_ Gohan tried to be supportive _Mr. Piccolo will be able to help once we get him back_

 _Right now,_ V thought _I'm more concerned about trying to get you back to mom_ V had seen their mother react to Gohan's injuries, she did not want to be on the receiving end of that.

V reached out for their father's energy but she couldn't feel it just yet.

"How about we get this party started then." Jeice interrupted V's thoughts and walked toward her. "any volunteers?"

V stood her ground so well Gohan almost questioned whether he was feeling his own fear or hers.

"bring it on." V puffed herself up.

"Hey—"

Dronare clamped a hand over Veltro's mouth

 _If you intervene you'll be hurting Veroca more than you'll be helping her_ Dronare warned him _if they find out how much she cares about you they'll use you against her._

 _Please, Dronare_ Veltro begged _let me help her._

 _Part of being a warrior is knowing how to fight different battles._ Dronare tried to explain.

 _I don't understand, she needs my help._ Veltro squirmed in Dronare's arms.

 _When you're fighting opponents this strong, you have to wait for your moment. Veroca is doing a great job of creating a distraction, she needs us to think of a better plan because hers won't last forever._ Dronare willed his son to understand. Of course, Dronare would never sit on the side and let Veltro fight alone but Veroca was different, she could handle this.

 _How do I think of a better plan?_ Veltro finally relaxed, Dronare let his arms fall away but he stayed beside Veltro.

 _Watch what happens, knowing about your opponents fighting style can be the difference between victory and defeat_ Dronare explained. Veltro nodded.

 _If I know how they fight I can figure out how to beat them_ Veltro thought.

 _Exactly_ Dronare had never felt so much pride in Veltro since Veroca returned. Dronare always thought he'd be angry at Veroca, for leaving his son behind like she did, but Veltro wasn't, so Dronare, had no reason to.

V

 _Come on, think. There's has be to something I can do._ V weighed her options. She was fast and it turned out absorbing energy from your opponent, even if she was afraid it would make her even more bad, was helpful. She was hoping that if she fought one of them she could absorb enough energy to keep them busy, but there was no way she could take them all. If they all decided to attack at once, she couldn't protect Gohan _and_ Veltro _and_ herself. One would go after Vegeta, V knew that much. Another would go after Dronare, they might consider him a priority target because he's a Namekian and an adult. They would go after her, ore specifically, Berter would go after her. he's going to be sore over their race and he's going to make her want to pay for it. If they're careful Gohan and Krillin could take Guldo but that leaves Dronare and Veltro with Recoome and V was one hundred percent certain they could not take Recoome. Although, Guldo might go after Veltro because of before in which case Gohan and Krillin would be up against Recoome and V wasn't sure which one she liked less.

"What do we have here?"

V's heart stopped at the sound of The Captains voice.

"Oh great," Krillin rolled his eyes. "who's this bozo."

"Captain Ginyu." V swallowed the lump in her throat.

"he's the strongest of the Ginyus." V tried to better angle herself in front of Gohan, she caught Dronare do the same to Veltro and she sent him a silent thank you fo it.

 _He's my son too_ Dronare's voice sounded in her head. _You don't need to thank me for protecting him_.

V gave him a mental nod, respect for her fellow warrior. Both of them, were just trying to take care of the people they loved. V scoffed at herself, she never thought she'd be in this situation, never thought she'd have so many people she wanted to protect. V glanced back at Gohan, as bad as things looked right now, she was thankful for it.

"The balls are secure, Captain." Jeice reported saluting his captain. V' tail wrapped around Gohan's wrist without a thought and nudged him just a little closer.

"Good, I take it you can handle these pests?" Ginyu didn't even bother to spare them a glance.

"It'll barely take a second." Jeice confirmed for the Captain

"No rush, Frieza will be happy once I get these back to him." Ginyu chuckled to himself "I guess you boys have earned a bit of fun."

"You're too kind, Captain." Jeice smirked towards Vegeta. "we'll report back as soon as we take care of them." Jeice saluted his captain as the captain activated the hover signal Berter had attached in mere seconds.

"Have fun" Captain Ginyu took off, all of V's, Gohan's and Krillin's hope trailing after it.

 _I'm gonna fix it_ V swore to Gohan _we're going to get Piccolo back_

 _And the others_ Gohan's mental voice was even small.

 _And the others_ V promised although she only really cared about Piccolo, the other's would just be extra, because of Gohan. She would only get the others back for Gohan.

"Alright then." Jeice smiled at the band of Saiyans, Namekians and the single Earthling

"How are we going to decide this?" Jeice asked.

Recoome raised his fist in the air. "There's only one fair way to settle this."

"Agreed." Berter, Guldo and Jeice all nodded in agreement.

Goku

"Come on, Come on." Goku paced around, this was taking too long, those guys passed him over an hour ago, there was no way his kids and his friends could handle them, they were too strong. If they so much as laid a hand on his kids or his friends he'd teach them otherwise,

 _Just hold on Gohan_ Goku thought _V, you know how to survive bad people. Please, keep them all alive_.

"This is useless." Goku crossed his arms and stared at the floor as he continued his pacing. One hour to landing. _Please, guys, just hold on_.

"Hurry up, ship, _please_." Goku has always an energetic person, he always found it hard to sit still for too long but knowing how much danger his friends and his children were in was making it even more unbearable.

"Just hold on guys, just hold on."

 **I always love hearing what people think about my take on things and my own characters and their interactions with the original DBZ characters.**

 **Let me know if you'd like to see more of a certain characters.**

 **VXGohan**

 **VXVeltro**

 **Dronare and Veltro**

 **So on and so forth. If you have a minute please let me know what you thought of this chapter and the series so far.**

 **Thanks so much for reading XD**


	16. Chapter 16

The Ginyus threw their hands into a loose circle.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot!"

"Awe man." Jeice got out first. The Ginyus did it again

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot!" This time Berter grumbled as Guldo and Recoome faced off.

"Alright!" Recoome cheered on the final round. "I get Vegeta!"

"I'll take the kids then." Guldo looked V in the eye as he said. It.

"Hey," Jeice, exclaimed.

"Not fair." Berter finished his buddy's thought "you can't get two for one."

"You guys aren't gonna let him get _two_ , are you?" V taunted trying to cause a fight but she felt their friendship. Just because they were bad didn't mean they were bad to each other. V already knew she wasn't going to be able to turn them, even the Ginyu force had a sense of loyalty to each other. Something Vegeta wouldn't know anything about.

"Stay out of this, Runt." Berter snapped at her.

"Come on, they're just kids." Guldo tried "only one won't be fun for anyone."

"He's got a point." Jeice agreed. "But two kids won't be fun either?" Jeice smiled at the set up.

"But Berter gets Vegeta's pet."

"I'm not his pet!" V huffed.

"Yeah, Berter will show her what it really means being the fastest." Jeice smirks. V glares at the force. She wasn't really angry about being called Vegeta's pet, she was angry because she had no idea how she was going to win this. _I can't win this_ V clenched her hands into fists.

 _You're not alone._ Gohan's voice sounded in her head. He linked their hands _together V, we can do this_

 _I don't want you to get hurt._ V's desperation reaches him through their link.

 _And I don't want you hurt either._ Gohan tells her.

 _I'm not strong enough to protect you_ V's anger pulsed in her blood making it hot.

 _You don't have to be,_ Gohan assured her _we're in this together._

 _Can't let you do this_ she says firmly _I promised mom I'd bring you back safe._

"Let him help." Dronare told her.

"No," she shakes her head "Veltro either, they can't, they'll get hurt."

"You don't have a choice." Dronare narrows his eyes at the Ginyu force. V cast a glance at Veltro.

 _Does that mean you're letting Veltro fight?_ She asked nervously. She was counting on Dronare to take care of Veltro.

 _I don't think I have a choice either_ Dronare kept a worried eye on Veltro. Veltro who stood fearlessly, ready to give his life for his friends.

 _We have to keep them safe_ V said firmly _they don't take any real hits, they get a few bruises but we have to take the brunt of the attacks._

 _Agreed_ Dronare nodded the slightest bit _they don't get hurt_

 _No_ V cast a glance at Gohan and then to Veltro. _They don't_

"Who gets to go first?" Recoome smiled at the Vegeta Who staggered back a step, fear evident in his eyes.

"I will." V stepped forward.

"No way." Jeice stepped in front of Berter, stopping him from getting accepting V's challenge.

"You're just trying to keep those runts from fighting." Jeice smirked. "You care about those little pests."

"I'm just excited to beat Berter…" V plastered on her best Vegeta smirk "again."

"That little runt!" Berter yelled.

"Hold on now, Berter." Jeice held Berter Back. "I think we should give Guldo a chance to go first."

"Don't worry, Berter." Guldo cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. Veltro and Gohan readied to defend.

"This'll be fast." Guldo met the kids half way.

"It had better be." Berter growled.

"No." V walked past Guldo and to Berter "I said I'm going first."

"Take a seat, princess." Jeice mocked her "watch your friends fight."

"Not a chance—" V was cut off when an arm locked around her neck and yanked her off the ground.

"Relax and enjoy the show." Recoome's laugh rumbled beside her ear.

"Let me go!" she shouted squirming around but he was too strong. She didn't have a chance of escaping.

"Don't worry, Veroca!" Veltro called to her. he cast a glance at Gohan. He still wasn't crazy about Gohan but he would fight with him if only to make Veroca feel better.

"Yeah, V." Gohan smiled at Veltro. V couldn't help but notice the same kind of look their dad get's before a fight, now sitting on Gohan's face.

"We can handle this." Gohan followed Veltro toward Guldo.

"Wait, you don't know his power!" V yelled.

"What power?" Veltro glared defiantly at Guldo.

"he can—"

Recoome clamped his other hand over her mouth. "No cheating." Recoome laughed.

V tried to talk around Recoome's hand but she couldn't get so much as a breath out. She dug her nails into his arm and tried to bite him but it was all useless, she was just too weak to do anything.

 _Please be safe Gohan_ V willed the message to reach him. She let her mind drift toward him but she wasn't sure he could hear her.

 _I've got to win this_ Gohan's thoughts reached her.

 _Focus_ V snapped _Focus so you can tell him Guldo's power._

"We're not scared of you." Gohan sank into his stance. Veltro did the same and V hated it.

 _That should be me, not them_ She squeezed her eyes shut on hopes of gaining better focus. _I should be fighting, not them_ V shoved her thoughts aside and reached out to Gohan. She could hear the fight beginning but she couldn't focus on that.

 _Just Gohan_ She ordered herself _focus on Gohan_.

 _If you can hear me Gohan, tell me_

 **Gohan**

Gohan and Veltro charged forward toward Guldo. Veltro pulled his fist back for the first punch but V's voice made him stop.

 _If you can hear me, Gohan, tell me_.

 _I can hear you_ Gohan felt her through their link. She felt strong and brave. He drew on that as he tried to refocus on the fight but Guldo was gone!

"Where'd he go?" Gohan exclaimed but Veltro looked just as confused.

 _Guldo can stop time._ V's voice shouted at Gohan urgently. Gohan winced from the intensity of her voice.

 _He can what?_ Gohan exclaimed but he heard her.

 _Tell Veltro_ V ordered him _I'm not focused enough to get into his head._

"Veltro, Guldo can stop time" Gohan glanced around for Guldo but he was nowhere to be see. Pain rocketed through Gohan's skull as he flew into the ground.

 _Gohan!_ V yelled into his head.

 _I'm okay_ Gohan tried to hide the pain but she was in his head. She put herself there so she'd feel every hit with him.

"Very smart." Guldo chuckled "you figured it out much quicker than usual." Veltro landed beside Gohan and helped him up.

"You okay?" Veltro asked Gohan. Gohan nodded.

"Good, because we can take him now that we know his secret." Veltro smiles his defiant smile, V heavily on his mind. He'd protect Gohan for her, he'd beat this stupid alien for her.

"Veltro!" Gohan called out.

"What?" Veltro readied for another attack but Guldo was gone again.

"I've got an idea, follow my lead." Gohan flew as fast as he could into the sky, Veltro mirrored him as Gohan powered up an energy blast and they both released their energy waves completely in sync. Using their super speed they bolted to the side, V never lost track of them once but she sensed the shift in time. Guldo was all the way on the other side of the battle field and Gohan and Veltro were opposite of him.

"Darn it." Gohan glared at the stubby green alien _how are we going to win this, V_? Gohan asked his sister for her advice she knew these people. She knew their weaknesses.

 _He can only stop time as long as he's holding his breath_ V told Gohan she felt the link open wide again, it wasn't such a struggle to hold the connection anymore.

 _Then all we have to do is make him run out of breath!_ Gohan smiled, that shouldn't be too hard, look at the guy.

"Quite it!" Veltro snapped at Gohan/

"Huh?" Gohan looked to Veltro.

"I know you're talking to Veroca in your head, knock it off and help me figure out a way to take this guy out." Veltro had a temper, he thought Dronare had simmered him down but then again there wasn't much to be angry about on planet Namek.

"V says that he can only stop time for as long as he can hold his breath." Gohan explained.

"Then let's make him run out of breath." Veltro smiled and threw a barrage of blasts at Guldo. Gohan followed Veltro's lead this time and threw of volley og energy waves. The two Saiyans kept their energy attacks low so they wouldn't waste their energy.

Guldo stumbled and staggered across the live battel field. He was quickly running out of breath, if he didn't do something soon he was a goner.

 _We have to finish this_ Gohan thought casting a glance at V locked in Recoome's arms. She had stopped struggling but her eyes were closed and he could feel her all around him

 _Be careful, Gohan, Guldo can control different parts of time._ V tried to warn him but Veltro voice snapped Gohan back to battle.

"Now!" Veltro charged and Gohan followed. They barreled full tilt toward the stubby alien until they weren't

Veltro and Gohan hovered midair but not by their own energy. Guldo held his hands out freezing the two Saiyans in place.

"Well well." Guldo laughed "that was fun but I'm getting tired." Guldo used his unique abilities and plucked a tree straight from the ground. "who wants to die first?"

"Gohan no!" V struggled in Recoome's arms, the giant ape just chuckled and squeezed her tighter.

"Now now, don't interrupt." Recoome laughed at V's feeble struggles.

"What now!" Gohan growled ordering his body to work but he couldn't move.

"I know." Guldo's eyes landed on Veltro "how about we teach you some manners." Parts of the tree were sliced away creating a sharp point.

"No!" V squirmed harder, trying to gain some leverage "leave him alone!" V's energy climbed as she struggled.

 _I can't lose him!_ V's voice was a sharp yell in Gohan's head. He looked to Veltro who stared at the tree head on. there was no trace of fear in his eyes. There was no regret or sorrow. Instead he smiled and his gaze shifted toward V.

"You will always be my best friend, Veroca." He smiled at her and V froze at the sight.

 _Don't you Dare give up!_ V yelled so loudly, telepathically, that Gohan, Veltro and Dronare winced from the volume.

 _You're not allowed to_ V went on _please, Veltro, you can get out of this._

 _Dronare, help him… Please… Veltro._

V's thoughts were scattered and jumping from person to person no one was entirely sure who V was talking to but there was one certainty. V was going to lose Veltro if she couldn't get herself free of Recoome's unbreakable grasp.

"Here we go!" Guldo launched the tree forward, his target locked on

 _"_ _Veltro!"_ V yelled both into Recoome's and with her mind.

A blue streak flashed across the field, a green blur sntached Veltro up and Before V knew it, Guldo had lost his head… literally.

Dronare cradled Veltro in his arms "are you alright?" he asked his son, pulling him back to get a better look and then squeezing Veltro to his chest when nothing seemed out of place.

"Dronare, I'm fine." Veltro muttered into Dronare's chest.

Vegeta stood beside Guldo's head with a triumphant smirk, his shadow cast over Guldo's severed head.

"N-no fair, V-Vegeta." Guldo whimpered "this was supposed to be a fight between me and them."

"There's not such thing as 'fair' in battle, there is only victory." Vegeta chuckled a bit "or in your case defeat."

"You dirty, monkey!" Guldo wailed "do you really think you're going to get away with this? I'm part of the Ginyu Force!"

Vegeta raised his hand toward the head "not anymore." Light flashed as the blast cleaned up the mess. Gohan and Dronare with Veltro still in his arms landed beside Vegeta, Dronare hovered behind his son... Gohan smiled Naively but Veltro looked him over skeptically.

"Thank you." Dronare said on behalf of Veltro.

"Yes, Thank you, Vegeta." Gohan piped in.

"Save your thanks." Vegeta said "I had my own reasons for wanting him dead. An opportunity arose and I took it, that's all." Vegeta cast a glance at the rest of the Ginyu force. "Next time you'd better watch out for yourselves." Vegeta's hand clenched into a fist. Guldo was child's play, the rest of them were real fighters. They weren't going to go down so easily.

 _If these other guys are stronger and have some kind of special ability like Guldo then I don't know how we're gonna_ Gohan looked back at V _and she's stuck with them_

"Awe man." Recoome tucks V under his arm, her mouth still covered, as he scratches his head "You're gonna pay for that one, Vegeta." Recoome stepped forward and threw Veroca back into Berter "keep her from interfering." He ordered Berter. V glared up at Berter.

"Don't worry, runt." Berter sneered "You'll get your turn soon enough."

Gohan wanted to do something but what could he do? V was stronger than him, Vegeta was stronger than him. _What can I do?_

"Dronare, I'm fine." Veltro whined trying to squirm out of Dronare's grasp.

"Stay with me." Dronare ordered him.

"I'm not a baby." Veltro tried to keep his voice down so he wouldn't draw attention to himself but he was getting frustrated with Dronare.

"Stay with me." Dronare snapped at him. Veltro froze, the amount of time Dronare actually ordered him to do something could be counted on of Veltro's hands.

"Gohan gets to be down." Veltro grumbled crossing his arms. Gohan tried to give Veltro some dignity and not acknowledge the scene happening beside him.

"If Gohan's father were here or Veroca was not presently incapacitated, I doubt he would be." Veltro said.

"He's right." Gohan tried to be helpful "If it was up to V I never would have fought just now."

"but you still fought." Veltro grumbled.

"and so did you." Dronare pointed out.

"Yeah but…" Veltro couldn't think of anything else to say. "I'm a warrior too." He grumbled.

"You are in training." Dronare said. In truth, Dronare simply was afraid for Veltro. When he had seen his son about to be impaled he had never been more terrified. He wouldn't allow that to happen again, never again.

"Yeah, training for this exact moment." Veltro tried to keep the fight up but something was wrong with Dronare, he didn't look angry he looked… scared.

 **V**

"Just wait until It's out turn." V shouted into Berter's hand over her mouth. "I'll beat you again."

"What's that?" Berter chuckles "Sorry I can't hear you."

 _I'm gonna beat you!_ She shoved the thought into Berter's head. Berter yelped and released V. V tumbled away and rejoined her brother.

"V!" Gohan exclaimed going in for a hug but V grabbed him by his arms and turned him back and forth, looking him over from head to toe. Of course she had seen the whole battle but she had to be sure.

"What are you doing, V?" Gohan chuckled a little at her antics.

"are you okay?" she asked getting right up into his face, she used her energy to hold herself as close as possible to Gohan.

"I'm fine, V." Gohan smiled at his sister. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him with as much strength as she thought he could bear. After a second she released Gohan and snatched Veltro out of Dronare's arms. She grabbed turned him this way and that and hung him upside down and then grabbed his face and examined the place between his eyes where the tree would have hit him.

"Are you oka—"

Veltro wrapped his arms around V, cutting her off. "I'm okay, Veroca." Veltro glared at Berter and Recoome. "but they're not going to be when I'm finished with them."

"Veltro." V pulled back and looked at Veltro, a bit surprised by his aggression. He wasn't raised like that. That aggression was the Saiyan in him.

"Stay by me." Dronare pulled Veltro back to his side. Dronare and V regarded each other as they each grabbed hold of their prospective family members and stepped in front of them. V stood in front of Gohan and Dronare in front of Veltro.

Vegeta's energy sky rocketed as he screamed. Anger pulsed through him. V's stomach churned and her head spun at the intensity of it

 _I am the prince of all Saiyans!_ Vegeta's thoughts made V's brain shake. She tried to turn his thoughts down but she couldn't control it like that.

 _I will not let them make a fool of me!_ Vegeta charged Recoome and planted his fist into Recoome's face. Recoome flew across the ground and Vegeta disappeared behind him and hammered Recoome into the ground and flies up into the sky and drives his knee into Recoome's stomach. Vegeta then grabs Recoome's leg, spins him and launches him into a mountain. Vegeta brings his hands together and powers up an energy wave.

"Wow." Gohan whispers.

"He's strong." Veltro admitted a bit begrudgingly.

"See you in hell!" Vegeta yells and as he releases the blast. The energy wave slams into Recoome, excess energy waves blast against the others, it knocks Krillin to the ground. V grabs Gohan and drags him to the ground, using her tail she reaches out and grabs Veltro as Dronare kneels and holds onto his son. Veltro peaks out from Dronare's chest as V's tail wraps around his own. Veltro always marveled at how V used her tail like an extra limb, his tail didn't feel like some extra piece he had to hide. With V's tail linking them together, he felt a place he fit in like a puzzle piece.

Vegeta's energy was exhausted and V released Gohan and Dronare released Veltro but Veltro didn't let go of V's tail.

"Wow." Gohan gasped.

"Yeah." Krillin climbed back to his feet "it's scary how strong, Vegeta has gotten."

"I know." Gohan agreed as V retook her place in front of Gohan.

"It's not—"

Recoome's laugh cut V off.

"No…." Vegeta panted, fear taking the place of the previous rage.

"No way!" Gohan and Krillin exclaimed. Veltro's shock washed over V but he refrained from commenting, mostly because he didn't want to give Veroca or Dronare more of a reason to keep him out of the fight.

"He's stupid if he thought that was going to be enough to take Recoome out." V's hands clenched into fists. Her tail tightened around Veltro's and her energy formed an uncoius barrier around Gohan.

 _I have to keep them safe._ " V thought _I can't lose them… they're my friends._

Gohan heard the desperation in V's thoughts and felt her energy, he just wished there was something he could do.

"It's my turn." Recoome laughed and posed in his ridiculous pose. V had to look away, a battle she could watch, this she could not.

"Recooooooommmmme, KICK!" Recoome charged and nailed Vegeta in the face sending him flying. Vegeta mustered his remaining energy and recovered in a back-hand spring. He threw himself at Recoome and continued his attack but V saw it. This was nothing but a game for Recoome, he humored Vegeta for a bit but V knew they were only entertained for so long.

Recoome punched Vegeta into the water. Vegeta, as stubborn and stupid as ever, came back for more. Vegeta plowed into Recoome's stomach, Recoome was taken by surprise, V could sense that much from him but there was no real damage. Recoome grabbed Vegeta and charged into the ground with Vegeta as a cushion.

"Vegeta!" Gohan cried out, ever concerned for others, even someone like Vegeta. She grabbed him by the back of his scarf to keep him from doing anything stupid but he never tried.

 _He must know there's nothing he can do_ V thought as the dust cleared and Recoome hopped away from the new crater in the ground. Vegeta's legs stuck out of the ground but the rest of him was covered. Recoome chuckled as he yanked Vegeta free from the ground by the Prince's leg.

"What's the matter?" Recoome laughed "finished already."

V caught the rise in energy just before Vegeta unleashed another energy blast right into Recoome's face. Recoome was thrown backward and the prince landed with a hard thud.

"Did he… did he get him?" Krillin asked with far too much hope in his voice. Gohan looked to V, V didn't meet his eyes but she shook her head. No, no he didn't get him.

Reccoome hopped to his feet and laughed "that was a nice one, Vegeta." Recoome almost sounded encouraging. It was twisted really. He played with his opponents, allowing them to think they stood a chance and then he did this.

"but it's not good enough." Recoome struck a pose, sticking his butt out and point his hands. "now it's my turn."

V didn't find anything funny about this pose. It was his finished

"Eraser gun!" Recoome yelled as his energy gathered.

"Oh, man, that's strong." Gohan looked desperately to V for some kind of assistance.

"It's his finishing move." V tells him "Vegeta won't survive."

"We have to do something." Gohan took a step but V still had her hand locked on his scarf.

"You'll get hurt." V told him.

"We _have_ to help him." Gohan insisted.

"Don't bother, Gohan, she doesn't care about anyone but herself." Krillin growled "but I have an idea, Vegeta is the lesser of two evils right now and at the very least we have the same enemy."

V tried to ignore Krillin but there was some truth in it. She neither liked Vegeta nor cared all that much that he was going to be killed. He'd killed thousands of people before, made families watch each other die and toyed with them. If anything, Vegeta had this coming but Gohan was innocent and the last time he had seen people die right before his eyes, it had damaged him inside. V wasn't sure he even knew it but she felt it, like a piece of his light had a blanket thrown over it.

"fine." V growled.

 _Hold Veltro back_ V instructed Dronare.

"So what are we doing?" Veltro asked, Dronare's grip on Veltro firm.

"Krillin, you attack Recoome, I'm the fastest. I'll get Vegeta out of the way." V planted her feet ready to charge forward.

"What about me?" Gohan and Veltro asked at the same time.

"Stay here." V ordered as she charged forward. A second later Krillin followed aiming for Recoome. Gohan followed Krillin. Veltro tried to but Dronare grabbed him and locked him in his arms.

"Dronare!" Veltro squirmed trying to escape.

"Gohan no!" V felt Gohan charging toward Recoome.

"No, you don't" Berter slammed into V and pinned her to the ground. Veltro rammed his elbow into Dronare's stomach and lunged after Vegeta, taking up V's place.

"No!" V yelled as Veltro disappeared behind the smoke and Krillin and Gohan threw everything they had into a single blow.

V reached out for Gohan and Veltro.

 _Are you okay?_ She felt for their energies. As the dust cleared she spotted Veltro with Vegeta tucked under his arm.

"You fool." Vegeta grunted at Veltro struggling to get his own feet under him. he had used up every ounce of energy in his body.

"Gohan!" V yelled struggling to get away from Berter. Berter pressed her face into the ground holding her helplessly in place.

 _I'm okay_ Gohan's voice floated through her mind and relief flooded her. She finally spotted both Krillin and Gohan unharmed a few feet away from Recoome who as laying on the ground.

"That was pretty crafty, twerp." Recoome snickered a bit as he pushed himself to his feet "you made me slam my mouth shut on my own attack."

V felt Gohan's fear as he watched Recoome climb to his feet, as if that blast that just cleared out everything in its path, was nothing.

 _Darn it!_ V squirmed in Berter's grasp "let go!" she yelled "let me go, you big jerk!"

"It's still Recoome's turn." Berter hissed at her.

"No!" she yelled. "fight me!" she grabbed at his hand with her own hands and her tail but he didn't budge. "I'll fight all of you right now, then none of you will have to wait for a turn."

"eh, Berter!" Jeice snapped "keep that little runt quiet, we're trying to enjoy the show."

"You heard him, brat." Berter shoved her face into the ground. "shut it."

"Veroca!" Veltro exclaimed moving to help her but Dronare snatched him up.

"Are you insane!" Dronare roared at Veltro. "you could have been killed."

"Well _he_ would have been." Veltro said firmly pointing to Vegeta "and I'm fine."

"What now?" Gohan looked to Krillin since V was presently incapacitated. He didn't know what to do, he wanted to help V and he wanted to get the dragon balls to save Mr. Piccolo and his friends but… but _how_ , how could he possibly do any of that when there were guys as strong and as evil as these goons.

"Well normally I'd be pissed about my teeth but…" Recoome cracks his neck "lucky for you I know a good dentist." He spat a few teeth out and targeted Krillin "but it's still gonna cost you." his eyes shifted to Gohan "and you."

"NO!" V yelled squirming, desperation giving her a burst of strength.

"knock it off!" Berter jammed his elbow into her back to stop her squirming.

"leave him alone!" she pleaded "fight me!" she kept squirming "fight me!"

Recoome shifted his eyes back to Krillin "who wants to go first?"

"Gohan." Krillin's voice trembled. "it doesn't matter anymore, nothing we do here matters anymore."

"what do you mean, Krillin?" Gohan gulps his fear down, trying to be brave like V and like Veltro and like his dad.

"I mean no matter what we can't beat these guys, not me or you or V or even Goku." Krillin's fear is evident in his voice and in his shaking hand and in the energy v can sense coming off him.

"we're going to die here." Krillin looked at Recoome

 _NO._ she screamed the word in her head, she would allow it. She wouldn't allow her baby brother to get hurt.

"but I'm not going down without a fight." Krillin charged Recoome.

"NO!" V tried to warn him, she tried to stop him but it was too late. Recoome was winding up for his other favorite move.

"Reeeeccoooooooome KICK!" Recoome's leg landed almost perfectly where he wanted it to. Krillin's neck made a sickening snap sound and V, who had seen death a hundred times over, closed her eyes against the sight of Krillin crumpled on the ground. as much as they disliked each other, for the first time, V felt genuine sorrow for a fallen friend.

"Krillin!" Gohan yelled out. Charging forward.

 _Please don't_ V begged Gohan through their link _please stop, he's just going to kill you_ V knew it was useless, when he was like this there was no sense or logic to his motivations. There was only protecting his friend.

Gohan's fists struck Recoome and for a moment, Recoome played along but as Gohan came flyin back, Recoome wound himself up, stricking each ridiculous pose and making V's heart sink to her stomach and time slow to a painful rate.

 _Please stop, Gohan_ She begged him _please Gohan, don't do this._

"Recoooooooooome,"

 _please Gohan, you can still turn back_

"KICK!" His leg slipped the slightest bit and a similar snap resounded from Gohan's neck.

 _Gohan_ V's heart stopped, she felt his energy drop, she felt the weakness in their link Rec

 _Gohan_ she could barely hear a pulse but it was there, he wasn't dead. not yet.

"Awe man, I must've slipped." Recoome sauntered over to Gohan's limp form on the ground.

"Get away from him." her voice was a whisper at first.

"I can't believe he survived that" Recoome poked at Gohan with his foot.

"Get away from him!" V yelled her energy surging. The ginyu's scoters beeped and targeted her, reading her power level.

"No way…" Jeice muttered.

"That can't be right!" Berter Exclaimed.

"Get." V's energy pulsed and shoved Berter back, "away." Her energy pulsed again, shooting her energy up even higher "from." She took a step toward Recoome. "him."

"no way!" Berter exclaimed. As V's energy climbed.

 _Gohan_ V's mind could only focus on her baby brother, laying there helplessly on the ground, he was just a kid.

 _Gohan_ she stepped forward again, her power pulsating wildly

 _Gohan… I failed you_ her energy swirled and writhed and with no one to tell her to stop, she let it go, control was no longer her concern. All she knew was she wanted Recoome dead.

* * *

 **Genuinely sorry to be MIA for so long. Will be finishing up this arc this summer hopefully by end of June to mid July.**

 **going to be posting about 2-3 times a week these chapters since I have take so long to start posting on this story again. I just ran short on time and I felt I wasn't in the right mind set to be writing V's character or this story but I think I'm okay now.**

 **Some reader Questions though...**

 **Do we want more Dronare and Veltro moments or do we like them better on the sidelines?**

 **and what about Dronare letting Veltro fight, should we keep over protective Dronare or should he really give in to Veltro and let him fight. I'm personally leaning toward over protective daddy but I'd like to hear other's thoughts as well.**

 **V is still figuring out her power and to what extent they reach and so with that does come with a bit of fear of the unknown but I mean... as of this moment she doesn't really care what can happen as long as she accomplishes her goal. but will this power up be enough?**

 **Thanks for all the comments on this story from Saiyan saga through the Frieza arc, comments are very helpful when I'm writing this story and I know it takes some extra time to add comments add this story to your reading list so thanks for your time and again sorry for taking so long. Plan to be posting another chapter by Monday or Tuesday.**

 **Thanx again :) 3**


	17. Chapter 17

"Get away from him!" V flew across the field and plowed her head into Recoome's stomach. Recoome doubled over actually surprised by the force of her hit. V grabbed him onto her energy grew, his energy meshed with hers.

"Veroca!" Veltro yelled as Dronare struggled to hold onto him.

"What's she doing?" Jeice wondered as V not only copied the energy from Recoome but took it.

"His energy…" Jeice read his scouter "It's going down."

"Don't touch my brother." V used his energy and threw him across the field and into a rock formation. His brutality seeped into her, tainting her. seeing Gohan with his neck broken on the ground did nothing to remind her of his gentleness. She could barely feel him anymore. Her anger mixed with Recoome's influence and her energy continued to climb she charged forward.

"Veroca!" Veltro yelled and shoved Dronare away from him,

"Veltro, no!" Dronare chased after him, Berter appeared in front of Dronare.

"Let the kid have some fun." Berter sneered.

"Get out of my way." Dronare swung at Berter but the alien dodged it easily and slammed his fist into Dronare's face.

"Veroca." Veltro flew to her "Veroca I'm here." He stood beside her.

"Get away." V's growled darkly. There was a voice in the back of her mind reminding her of the look on Gohan's face the last time she had lost it, but this power, this was too much she couldn't ignore it, she didn't want to ignore it.

"Veroca." Veltro reached or her.

"Get away!" V's energy pulsed and threw Veltro back as she charged forward.

"Veroca!" Veltro recovered and chased after V.

"I told you not to touch him." V yelled hammering Recoome into the ground. "I told you not to touch my little brother!" V yelled "I told you, I told you, I told you!" V kicked Recoome into the sky. Veltro hesitated in his pursuit. He'd never seen Veroca like this. She was powerful and so angry.

"but you did it." V growled in that low dangerous voice. "You touched him… you _hurt_ him." V drove her knee into Recoome's face.

"Veroca!" Veltro yelled as he grabbed her "Stop it!" he yelled in her face.

"Get away, Veltro!" She yelled back trying to brush him off but he stood firmly in front of her, his hands squeezing her arms.

"Stop it, Veroca, please." He tried to look her in the eye, fear lingering there. He wasn't afraid of her, he was afraid for her.

"Veltro, get away from me." V growled not meeting his eyes.

"No, you have to stop now." Veltro shivered at Recoome's influence in her energy, he didn't like it, it didn't feel right. "this is not you."

"I need to be this to beat him." V shoved past him and drilled Recoome into the ground. Energy filled her hands as she glanced back at Gohan laying there on the ground, his neck bent at a strange angle.

 _Gohan_ V felt tears in her eyes but it was like there were two of her. Gohan's sister version of herself and this version, this brutal energy stealing version of herself where Gohan's innocence and light couldn't reach her.

 _I'm so sorry Gohan_ V's hands filled with the stolen energy, she pushed all of it in there. As she pushed the wild, dangerous energy out of her and into her hands she saw the bruise forming on Veltro's head,

 _I did that_ she heard fighting behind her, Dronare's and Berter's voices. She finally looked at into Veltro's eyes and saw his fear and then she heard him

 _Veroca, this isn't you. Stop now, please stop_.

 _I can't_ She thought back to him _I can't, I have to save Gohan and you and Dronare and Piccolo_

 _Not like this_ Veltro didn't move toward her but he reached for her through the link she established.

 _I'm not strong enough to save you guys any other way_. V pushed the energy into her hands forming it into a ball, draining the last bit of Recoome's energy.

 _This isn't right and you know it._ Veltro told her stubbornly.

 _I have to_ V's sense slowly returned, she lost control of the energy. _I have to_ she thought as the energy flew from her hands at only half the strength. Recoome raised his arms and blocked it.

"No…" V felt Recoome's influence leave her.

 _It's going to be okay_ Veltro grabbed her arm _we can do this together_ he liked talking to Veroca like this, in her head, like Gohan was always doing.

Dronare battled against Berter but he wasn't going to fool himself into thinking that he was actually a match for this guy. Berter was just playing with him to pass the time.

"We can't do this." V felt the anticipation of Recoome's movements. It wasn't so much energy as she felt him in her head, the idea of his movements, the prediction of them.

"My turn." Recoome charged and before V could realize the shift in his movements, the change in target, Veltro was flying into the ground.

"No!" V was trying to chase after him but Recoome clotheslined her the opposite way.

"Veltro!" Dronare yelled out as Veltro slammed into the ground.

"Aren't you going to check on your son?" Berter laughed intercepting Dronare each time he tried.

Recoome slammed V into the ground. "looks like your friend is hurt." He taunted "maybe you should go and check on him." Recoome grabbed her by her leg and threw her into Veltro.

Veltro cried out in pain at the impact. V tried to regain her bearings but that last[GM1] time she used her absorption power also drained her own.

"Veltro!" she exclaimed grabbing his face "I'm so sorry." She squeezed him to her with all the strength she could muster.

"I'm—" he winced "okay." He tried to smile the way Veroca does when she's hurt and she's trying to pretend she's not but his looked more like a grimace.

"Stay here." She ordered Veltro.

"Just give me a minute." Veltro struggled to his feet but the second he got up he fell right back down.

 _Dronare was right_ he thought helplessly _I wasn't ready_

"Is that all you've got!" V yelled at Recoome. Her legs begged her to just fall but she willed them to hold her up. _Just a little bit longer_ V wasn't sure what she was feeling but it wasn't energy not yet but somehow it was familiar, it felt like… the energy hit V almost like a physical force _daddy!_ She screamed the word in her head. _he's here! He's going to save us_ V's legs finally gave out and she hit the ground.

"Awe." Recoome grumbled "Was that it" he landed in front of her. "I wanted to have more fun." Recoome poked at V with his shoes but her energy was fading.

 _Gohan, hold on_ she opened their link as wide as she could. She imagined a room with her and him _it's okay, dad is here_

 _Daddy…_ Gohan's thoughts were weak but they were there.

 _Yeah, and when he gets here it's going to be okay._ V felt the room disappearing, her own fatigue taking her over.

 **Goku**

The door opened revealing the strange planet to Goku. It wasn't visually all that different from Earth but it was the feel of it. It felt clean.

 _Gohan_ Goku thought searching the planet for his son's energy _V_ he reached out for hers as well, hers was usually easier to sense but the two energies that seemed to match his children's were low and fading by the second.

 _Daddy!_

Goku winced at the intensity of the yell in his head but he'd recognize that voice anywhere.

 _Hold on, V, Gohan, I'm on my way._ Goku took off toward the energies. _Just hold on, guys,_ Goku pleaded with them _just hold on_.

 **V**

 _Just hold on_ V felt comfort in her father's words. She felt him getting closer.

"What about this one?" Berter wrangled Dronare into a head lock and held him out for the others to get a look at.

"Think this one will be any use to Frieza?" Berter asked.

"Yeah right." Jeice chuckled "he's as useless as the rest of them… but I'll tell you what, greenie." Jeice raised his hand toward Veltro "I'll let you pick who I finish off first."

"No!" Dronare struggled against Berter "get away from him, he hasn't done anything, he's just a boy." Desperation gave Dronare some strength but it was nowhere near enough.

"Then how about the pet?" Jeice looked Dronare in the eye.

"Leave her alone." Veltro grunted pushing himself up. He had never hurt so much in his life. Dronare had never hurt him during their training, not like this, he'd _never_ been hurt like this, not even when Raditz hit him when he first met Veroca.

"Then the other one." Jeice aimed at Gohan

"I wouldn't do that." V started to laugh.

"What are you talking—huh." The scouter beeped. "What's that?"

"That." V smirked.

"It's-it's Goku." Krillin started to laugh and V waited to hear Gohan but he was still hurt, he was almost dead.

"You're in for it now." V's chuckle was muted by the ground.

 _This is your father?_ Dronare asked V inside her head.

 _Yes,_ V said her relief filling Dronare _he's going to fix everything._

 _How can he possibly be strong enough to do anything?_ Dronare asked.

 _I don't know_ V said honestly

 _Then how can you be so sure?_ Dronare was incredulous.

 _Because that's what heroes do._ V told him without a shadow of a doubt.

"Take your hand away from my son." Goku's voice was like a loud clap of powerful thunder.


	18. Chapter 18

Goku strode over to his son. A sharp pang made Goku clench his hands into fists as he knelt beside Gohan.

"Hey there, son." Goku made sure there wasn't a trace of anger. "I know you're hurt but you need to eat this, okay?" Goku produced a senzu bean and placed it into Gohan's mouth.

"Come on, Gohan." Goku pleaded with his son. "You have to swallow it."

V and Gohan sat in their mind room, right next to each other. V smiled at him and took his hands in hers.'

 _It's time to wake up now, Gohan_ she told him _I know it hurts but daddy is here_.

 _Daddy!_ Gohan exclaimed, relief filling him. His dad always made things okay, _daddy is here, right now?_ Gohan asked her.

V nodded _he's holding you, feel for yourself_. V broke the connection and Gohan was back in his body and everything hurt, his pain had pain but V was right.

"You have to swallow it, Gohan." His dad's voice was gentle and comforting and _dad is here!_ Gohan could have cried he was so happy.

"That's it, Gohan." Goku held his son in his arms, he felt V just a bit away, she was hurt but she was okay. Right now, Goku watched his son struggle to swallow the senzu bean but once he did, his energy pulsed and Gohan bolted upright, clutching onto his father's shirt.

"Daddy!" he exclaimed wrapping his arms around his father "you're really here."

"Of course I am, silly." Goku lifted Gohan with him as he climbed back to his feet.

The Ginyu force looked in in confusion. Jeice looked to Burter and exchanged glances with Recoome.

"Who the hell is this bloke?" Jeice asked.

Goku continued to ignore them as he cradled his five-year-old son in his arms and strode over to V.

"Daddy…" V muttered into the ground. her body was filled with so much pain she was sure not even those magic beans would help her but then again she must have felt worse than this, right?

"Oh no…" Gohan hopped down as Goku knelt and produced another bean.

"V." Gohan rested his hands on her back. V's tail moved the slightest bit but she was too weak for much else.

"She was trying to protect me." Gohan whimpered, seeing her in so much pain, feeling it through their link, although she tried to keep that from him, hurt Gohan more than anything else ever had.

"I know, she's a good sister." Goku smiled at Gohan as he scooped V into his arms and placed the bean in her mouth. V grimaced from the pain but eventually got her own bean down.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Gohan asked.

V's energy pulsed and swirled and Gohan was taken aback from the sudden surge. His head spun and for the briefest of moments he felt like he might vomit but he didn't and V was grabbing onto Goku and Gohan. She looked Gohan up and down and then she looked to Goku.

"Daddy!" she wrapped her arms and squeezed with all her strength "I knew you'd be here, I just _knew_ it!" she laughed, the weight of the world was no longer on her shoulders alone.

"Oh man." Goku chuckled as he hugged V "you've gotten even _stronger_."

"Gohan!" V released Goku and wrapped her legs and arms around him. "I was so worried about you, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." V held him, _he's okay_.

"But you did." Goku assured her "he's alive, you kept everyone alive until I got here and that's what matters, V, that's what counts." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then Gohan's and then led both his children over to Krillin and then to Veltro. Dronare was still locked in Burter's grasp when Veltro ate the senzu bean. Dronare had never felt relief like the moment Veltro's energy returned and this time Dronare was sure he was even stronger than before.

 _Veltro_ Dronare prodded into Veltro's mind.

 _I'm okay._ Veltro assured him. Then Veltro saw V, healthy and alive and okay.

"Veroca!" Veltro leapt on her and wrapped himself around her, locking her to him, he grabbed her tail with his. "You're okay." He held onto her.

 _We're okay, now_ V said. _My dad is here, he's going to fix everything._

Veltro let V go but held onto her tail with his own.

 _Are you okay, Dronare?_ Veltro asked him.

 _I'm alright, Veltro._ Dronare assured his son _but stay back now_

Burter growled when he saw Dronare looking at Veltro, he could tell they were communicating telepathically.

"Stop that." Burter growled shook Dronare.

"Dronare!" Veltro lunged forward but V tightened her tail around his and stopped him.

"Daddy." V tugged on his pant leg.

"What is it, V?" Goku placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"That's Veltro's daddy, Dronare." V pointed to the Namek "and that's Burter, he's fast and he's hurting Dronare."

"Alright, V." Goku mussed her hair, as Veltro looked on in distress.

"Daddy will fix it." He smiled at her and nodded toward Veltro. "We'll have to officially meet later, Veltro." Goku glanced at V and Veltro's interlocked tails. "It's time for you guys to stay back and let me take care of this."

"But daddy!" Gohan exclaimed "they're really strong."

"I know, Gohan but…" Goku gave his trademark smirk and looked the remaining members of the Ginyu force over. "I think I can handle them."

"But…" Gohan reached for his dad as he stepped away but Gohan grabbed him. V watched Goku stride across the field.

"Wait, Gohan… somethings… something is different about dad." V felt out Goku's energy, there was something strange about his energy, it was a stronger, more refined.

"What do you mean?" Gohan looked to V, her eyes firmly on their father.

"Look, Gohan." V said "feel him."

Gohan looked at Goku. Goku stood straighter, walked taller, there was a new confidence in his stride. Gohan didn't think there was anyway his father could emit anymore confidence but there it was.

Goku strode toward the Ginyu force with minimal concern. He sized up his opponents, they were strong but training in one hundred times gravity really had some intense benefits.

"So, you think that's funny, huh?" Goku demanded, sharpening his gaze as he met Burter's eyes.

"Have you ever tried it?" Burter sneered holding Dronare by the throat.

"Not interested." Goku stood across from Burter "and you will let him go, now!"

"Why don't you come and make me." Burter cackled tightening his arm around Burter. Dronare grabbed at Burter's arm, Burter just tightened his arm and then Dronare was gone.

"What the?" Burter looked at his empty arms.

Jeice and Recoome looked at Goku and Burter in disbelief… "how did he…"

Goku reappeared in front of Veltro and V and placed Dronare beside him.

"Dad!" Veltro clung to Dronare, but his tail stayed linked to Veroca. Dronare held onto his son.

"You're okay." Dronare held onto his son, he felt better now that Veltro was back in his arms and he was healthy and alive. He would never forget how broken Veltro looked and how powerless Dronare had been to stop it. _I will never be so weak again_ Dronare swore holding onto his son. He looked to Goku.

"Thank you." Dronare said to him. Goku nodded and offered a smiled "thank you for keeping an eye on my kids until I got here."

"Goku, is it?" Dronare asked.

Goku nodded.

"These guys are strong." Dronare warns him.

"Hmmm…" Goku had that trademark smirk on his face as he shifted his eyes toward the Ginyu force. "Yeah but… I think I'll be okay."

"We'll have a better chance if we fight together." Dronare said.

Veltro perked up. "Yeah—"

"Not you." Dronare said firmly, interrupting Veltro.

"but—"

"Don't worry." Goku interrupted Veltro again "just stay here and let me handle this, besides." Goku pointed toward the kid's interlocked tails. "I don't think V's letting you go anywhere." He chuckled when Veltro looked to V and she shook her head, a bit of a pout on her face. V's tail tightened around Veltro's as she turned toward her dad.

"Go get 'em daddy." She smiled confidently at him, she had a feeling this wouldn't take long.

"You got it." Goku turned away form his friends and family and faced off.

"What's the big idea!" Recoome yelled "alright, that's it." He growled "now you're gonna get it, RECOOOOMMEEEE!" He struck a few poses and V still found it hard to watch.

"DIE!" Recoome yelled.

Gohan and Krillin covered their eyes, Dronare watched Veltro, Veltro watched V and V watched Goku. Her eyes shifted and Recoome staggered forward striking air.

"Uuuhhhh..." Recoome just stared at empty space "where'd he go?" he asked.

"He's gone!" Gohan exclaimed "Krillin, did you see where he went?"

"Uhuhu." Krillin shook his head. Krillin's eyes trailed over the field until they landed on Vegeta who's eyes were nowhere near Recoome.

"Man, he's fast." Burter noted.

"Yeah he is…" Jeice looked out over the field "but where'd he go?" his scouter beeped and pointed behind him. Burter and Jeice leapt a step back as they turned and found Goku directly behind them.

"What are you trying to pull?" Jeice demanded

Krillin and Gohan gaped at Goku "he's all the way over there." Krillin stared in disbelief. _And Vegeta saw it before any of us_ he slid a glance at V _maybe not all of us_ V didn't look surprised at all to see Goku way over there.

Goku stared Jeice and Burter down "You guys have enough caused enough problems here, it's time for you to leave."

Jeice and Burter growled and clenched their hands into fists as they glared at Goku.

"Go back to your ships and get off of this planet otherwise you'll face me." Goku walked towards them. V recognized the tension in Jeice and Burter as their anger built up and they lunged for Goku but Goku moved faster than them and avoided both of their attacks. They didn't even see it. They staggered forward without hitting their mark just like Recoome before. Recoome watched as Goku flew from Jeice and Burter back across the field to him.

"Alright, that's enough showing off." Recoome tried to regain control of this battle "we get it you're pretty quick but speed alone isn't going to be enough to save you. you see I've got this special little move I like to use and trust there's no way you're going to be able to outrun it. I'm going to wipe out this whole place and everything you see is going to be ruble, hope you're ready chief because I'm about to send all you little wimps straight to hell!" Recoome's energy began to climb, sections of rock crumbled away from the ground and rose into the air with Recoome's energy. Gohan and Krillin looked on in fear. Even Vegeta grit his teeth, sure that there was no way Goku would be able to stop this attack.

 _It's okay, Gohan_ V didn't even realize she was thinking it but Gohan heard it and her calmness washed over him.

"ERASER GU—" Recoome's words stopped in his mouth. Goku stood under him with his elbow jammed into Recoome's stomach. Recoome's energy drained immediately as he looked down at the comparably tinier man.

Goku stepped back, his hands raised in a chop like manner "Sorry, I saw an opening and it was just screaming 'attack me' so… I did." Goku chuckled and chopped at the air as Recoome slumped to the ground.

"Is that it?" Gohan asked "did dad win."

V nodded "yes."

"I just… I don't see how it's possible." Krillin stammered "after all the trouble we had with him… one punch and… and…the Goku we left on Earth couldn't be doing this right now."

Jeice and Burter looked on in utter shock "What's Recoome still doing on the ground, it looked like the guy barely even touched him." Jeice shook his head "that…that attack didn't even register on the scouters." He stammered.

"I've told you once already." Goku said his voice loud and clear as a bell as his eyes shifted to Jeice and Burter.

"Take your friend and leave, we don't have to fight." Goku tried to reason with them again. V just shook her head.

 _What are you doing, daddy?_ She unintentionally spoke to him telepathically _these guys can't be reasoned with, just make them go away_

 _We always give people a chance_ Goku spoke back to her _if we start just killing people then how are we any better?_ He asked her. V shifted her eyes to Gohan, she didn't care what they had done to her, she wouldn't care what they were going to do to this planet if it weren't for Veltro. The only thing she cared about was the sickening snap that kept replaying in her head when Recoome broke Gohan's neck and _laughed_ about it. She didn't care about being good or bad right now, she wanted Recoome dead, she wanted Frieza gone and she wanted to go home.

 _You are good, V_ Goku told her _don't let the bad guys get to you after fighting this whole time to not end up like Vegeta._

V winced at the mention of it. Of course, she knew what it was like being on the weak end and it's not like she wanted revenge for her, she just wanted to make sure that Recoome could never hurt Gohan again and there was only one way to do that.

"That's it!" Jeice yelled "I've had just about enough of you!" Jeice took off first and Burter followed close behind. They attacked Goku but V held no concern, he was stronger than both of them.

Jeice and Burter flew back and forth trying to get a hit in but Goku was moving too fast for them to even see. Krillin, Gohan, Dronare, Veltro, V and Vegeta just watched, it's all they could do. V was the only one able to figure out why it looked like Goku wasn't even moving and it wasn't because she could see it, it was because she could feel him. Somewhere along the line she had developed a similar but much weaker bond with Goku and she could feel his movement.

"That's insane." V shook her head at the whole thing.

"He's not even moving…" Goku couldn't fathom what was happening, of course he knew his father was strong, the strongest ever but… this was new. How could anyone even be this strong?

 _Yes he is_ V answered Gohan through their link without thinking about it. _Feel_ she opened herself up to Gohan completely and directed him toward the fight.

Gohan's jaw dropped both from the unhindered link V had just opened and the power he felt from their father. How fast he was moving you just couldn't see it, you _had_ to feel it.

"Oh, wow." Gohan gasped. "that's amazing."

"You don't honestly see anything… do you?" Krillin asked casting a sideways look at Gohan.

"No." Gohan shook his head "but V can feel him moving… she's letting my see through our bond."

"You're inside V's head?" Krillin asked, his tone taking a sharp edge.

"No." Gohan shook his head "it's not like that, it's like..." Gohan tried to think of a way to explain it but how do you explain _this_?

Dronare cast an annoyed look at Krillin. "They share a soul." Dronare told Krillin bluntly. "They are their own beings, they have their own thoughts and feelings and minds but they are open to each other, free to look into each other's minds and share things with each other." Dronare turned to look at Krillin full on "they understand each other in a way no one else could ever hope to."

"Yeah…" Krillin grumbled and turned back to the fight.

Burter and Jeice stopped and Jeice growled "That's it." He stalked up to Goku "who do you think you are we are the Ginyu—" Goku's fist plowed into Jeice's face. Jeice howled in pain and grabbed at his face.

"How dare you!" Jeice yelled.

"How dare I what, attacking you?" Goku asked "weren't you and your friend attacking me."

Jeice grit his teeth against Goku's logic. "I'll destroy you!" He yelled as he and Burter both attacked Goku. Goku easily blocked both attacks, he didn't need to move, his arms were plenty strong to stop the attacks. He kneed Jeices and crouched as he swept Burter's legs out from under neath him. Both ginyus' recovered and glared at the spikey haired alien.

Jeice narrowed his eyes at Goku "He's,"

"Dead meat." Burter finished his friend's sentence. Goku crossed his arms in front of him, his energy spiked.

Veltro stood beside V "so…" Veltro dug the toe of his shoe into the ground "that's your dad?" he asked as Goku threw his arms out, a gust of energy throwing Burter and Jeice in opposite directions.

"Yep." V couldn't help the smile on her face. It wasn't just because he was strong, it was because he wasn't just fighting to save himself. He was fighting for Gohan and Krillin and Veltro and Dronare and her. he was fighting for her too.

Veltro looked at V smiling, he had never seen her smile like that. Veltro tightened his tail around hers but she was lost in the fight. She wasn't thinking about him _she's gonna leave me_. Veltro thought a bit panicked.

 _Have a little more faith in your friend that that_ Dronare's voice invaded Veltro's thoughts. He rested a hand on his son's shoulder.

"There's no way!" Jeice exclaimed when he finally recovered himself.

Krillin looked on in utter amazement. "He threw them back just like that, he turned his energy into some kind of blast…" Krillin trailed off trying to understand what just happened.

Gohan looked at his father and felt him through V's open link and he wasn't sure what to think either, _how could he get so strong, so fast?_

Jeice and Burter tried again throwing their hardest hits but again it seemed as through their hits were going right through Goku, the only indication that they had thrown a hit was the breeze that moved Goku's bangs.

"That can't be right." Jeice muttered as he flew upward "his power level is only five thousand, I'm sure of it." Jeice checked the scouter again to be sure but there it was, a power level of only five thousand, much weaker than his. "our attacks aren't even phasing him."

Burter's energy surged, purple energy erupted around him. his voice raised from a low growl to a yell as he powered up for something big. Jeice glanced over at Burter and he knew what to do. Powering up himself, re energy engulfed him and the red and purple energies collided. Energy balls flew out from the spiral.

Goku stood solid as his voice reached the sky, his power level following right behind. The balls of energy hit a type of shield Goku used his energy to create. The barrage of balls struck the shield and when the dust cleared. Goku stodd unscathed.

"It didn't even touch him!" Jeice growled in annoyance his energy spiked again "this is what you get for messing with the Ginyu force." He raised his hand to the sky, red energy framing his arm and hand "CRUSHER!" He yelled "BALL!" he threw the energy orb at Goku.

"That's it… jumps now." Burter coaxed sure that he knew what Goku was going to do because it was what everyone did when faced with this attack.

"What!" Burter exclaimed "he deflected it! Damn you!" Burter charged forward. But he blinked and Goku was gone.

"Damn it, where'd he go!" Burter cursed. Jeice spotted him before Burter did.

"Burter, behind you!" Jeice tried to warn his friend. Burter whirled around and found Goku behind him. Goku hovered there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his lips and Burter just stared for a moment,

"No!" he yelled into Goku's face "no, I am the fastest in the universe!" Burter yelled it as if ti would make it true "I'm the fastest, there is no one faster!"

"I think you mean second fastest." Goku said a bit smugly.

Jeice just watched helpless from the side lines "this madness, first he deflects my crusher ball and then he sneaks up on Burter?"

"Who…who are you?" Burter demands of Goku.

"I'm a Saiyan raised on Earth, or so the say." Goku smiled a bit wider.

"Liar!" he yells at Goku "that's ridiculous, a Saiyan being this fast."

"Hey, don't go jumping to conclusions, I've trained hard, pushed myself to my limits and further." Goku looked the purple alien over, he was getting scared "you shouldn't judge others based on their race, it could get you into trouble." Goku chuckled a little, considering Burter's current situation it was funny

"Speed isn't going to win you this fight, you'll tire out eventually." Burter lunged attacking Goku with everything he had.

"You sure?" Goku asked a bit arrogantly but from V's perspective he had the stuff to back up the arrogance, she shifted her eyes toward Vegeta _unlike him_ she couldn't help but smile _just try and hurt Gohan again, Vegeta_

Jeice threw himself into the battle and Burter and Jeice tried work with Burter. Watching to hit Goku after he dodged Burter's attack but Goku was so fast they couldn't keep up.

"Dammit!" Burter cursed "how can this be—" his words stopped in his throat when Goku disappeared and Jeice's fist plowed into his face but Burter's knee embedded itself into Jeice's abdomen.

"What's the big idea!" Jeice growled at Burter.

"Look who's talking!" Burter yelled back.

The Z fighters just looked on in stunned amazement "how did he get so strong?" Krillin muttered mostly to himself.

Vegeta growled under his breath _how could he get so much stronger in such a short amount of time?_

"Are you sure you want to keep on like this?" Goku gave the remaining Ginyus another chance to back down.

"Getting tired?" Burter smirked at him.

"Not exactly." Goku disappeared and slammed his elbow into Burter's face, he swung his leg out and caught Jeice's face. The pair charged Goku again and Goku disappeared and slammed his foot into Burter's face sending him across the battle field. Jeice was so surprised he couldn't even move.

Goku was nothing but a streak of light as he flew across the sky and appeared below Burter, his hand up. Burter slammed into Goku's hand.

"That's so cool." V smiled at her father _he just took out Burter without breaking a sweat._ V leapt up, Veltro's tail around her own the only thing keeping her close to the ground.

"Go Daddy!" She cheered.

Goku's eye shifted toward Jeice "take your wounded and leave, I don't want to have to hurt you too."

Jeice glanced between Burter and Goku and then to Recoome. His energy spiked, Goku readied for another attack but Jeice didn't charge him. instead, Jeice flew the opposite way disappearing into the sky.

"G…Goku?" Krillin had to ask, he was so different now.

"Hmm…" Goku looked back at his childhood friend.

"Is that really you?" Krillin asked.

Goku smiled "Of course it is, who else would it be?" Goku looked over at his friend and his children _I got here just in the nick of time_.

 _I knew you'd be here in time_ V spoke to him in his head, he smiled and nodded toward her. when had she learned telepathy?

 _Now's my chance_ Vegeta sprung into his opportunity. He flew across the field and drove his knee into Burter's neck effectively severing his spine from his skull.

"Hey!" Goku held his hand out "stop." Vegeta leapt away from Burter and held his hand out torward Recoome, energy welled up in his hand an dhe fired without the slightest hesitation. The explosion engulfed Reccome leaving nothing but dust in it's wake.

"What's your deal?" Goku snapped at Vegeta "you know how to receive mercy but you don't know how to give it, too bad, I was hoping you might've changed."

Vegeta spat at the ground "they don't deserve any favors, they're scum, believe me." Vegeta leveled Goku with a glare "would they have shown mercy to your friend and your son?" Vegeta had a point that V couldn't deny.

"Had you shown up ten minutes later you wouldn't have had anyone to save." Vegeta smirked at Goku "you're too soft to be a Saiyan, that freak you let go could cost you your life."

 _He's right."_ V told her father _there's someone else, their leader, he's even stronger than them._

"Mercy is not weakness." Goku told Vegeta, if Vegeta didn't learn it that was fine but he wouldn't let Vegeta influence V or Gohan.

"Speak for yourself." Vegeta scoffed.

"He's right." V said to no one in particular.

"Huh?" Gohan looked to V.

"Vegeta is right." V sighed.

"No way." Veltro interrupted anything Gohan might've said "your father is right, Dronare teaches me the same and I believe Dronare over Vegeta." Veltro made a face at Vegeta.

"Veltro's right." Gohan said gently "had we not shown Vegeta Mercy on earth he would have been here to save us from Guldo, remember?"

V puffed her cheeks out and sighed "I guess." _How can they be so forgiving?_ V couldn't fathom it. She would never forgive Vegeta for what he'd done to Gohan back on Earth.

* * *

 **V seems to be having trouble with forgiveness and King Kai has already mentioned she's not really a good guy, the person she shares a soul with just happens to be a good guy, she still has to make a choice or perform some kind of action that decides her side and not just save Gohan and his friends to keep him happy.**

 **Any guess/suggestions on what she's gonna do. I have some ideas but I'd like to hear your thoughts too.**

 **fogxglove, fear not I've been waiting for Nail to meet V again since I wrote The Namekian Saiyan and it does alter the original plot line of DBZ a bit but hey... that's what Fanfiction is for. :)**


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